Naruto: Ninja Pirate
by drakewilson
Summary: Naruto had been raised amongst pirates for the most part so when destiny handed him the chance to form his own crew and lead them to glory he leapt on the opportunity. So what if some crazy cult thinks he is some sort of reincarnation and want him dead? So what if two mercenary groups want to gut him alive? At least his crew are on his side... At least he hopes they are. Cursing(T)
1. Chapter 1: Enter the Main Character

A/N: Hello everybody! Drake here. This is my first shot at a fanfic in a while and since I've been playing a bit of Assassin's Creed Black Flag and watching Naruto, it made sense to me to do a One Piece/ Naruto crossover. While Naruto will eventually run into the straw hats, initially he will be exploring the world and meeting characters from his own world for the first couple of chapters. While not a part of the straw hats, his journey will follow theirs for the most part with little diversions as he builds his crew and in true Naruto fashion convinces them to be one of his precious people. The ages of certain characters will be swapped around so what is canon in Naruto is not canon in this story (although the one piece characters are largely unaffected). At the end of each chapter I will post any relevant character profiles trying to avoid any spoilers.

This is not a serious story. It may have the odd parts that are serious but much like One Piece (and I suppose Naruto as well) it will be mostly light hearted. While Naruto is not god like, he isn't a pushover. Being raised amongst pirates saw that Naruto has no qualms about killing and is quite happy to do so if it is needed. Not that he goes out of his way to kill someone if he can talk his way out of it.

Edit: Changed some of the bounties except Naruto's and Tayuya. There is a reason they are so low.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own One Piece. If I owned just one of these I would be happy... I suppose both would be greedy.

* * *

Chapter 1: Enter the Main Character

The sun shone brightly on a large ship, its tattered violet sails lie dormant without the slightest breeze to stir them.

If one were to pay close attention to said ship, they would notice the scars of many battles littering it. Its main mast seemed help together by rope and hasty repairs. The cannons were all missing wheels and for the most part looked unusable, which was fine considering the ship had no cannonballs anyway. If one were to look really close you would also notice that the ship was lacking a full crew. In fact only a single living thing could be seen on the boat.

Sat snoozing quietly in the crow's nest was a young blonde man. He wore a tattered white cloak over frayed a black leather chest plate. His arms and legs were covered by black leather bracers and shin pads, which were worn over the top of some tattered black trousers. Two cutlasses were stashed in his belt along with two flintlock pistols and in direct contrast to most of his equipment, a well maintained flintlock rifle was flung over his shoulder.

His face was quite handsome, although he had six fierce scars, cut into his face like whiskers. His wild unruly blonde hair had a small strand of braided hair going down the left hand side of his face that reached his shoulder. The braid had little tokens attached, mementoes of victories and pleasant memories.

"Wha?!" The blonde started and looked around. "Oh it was a dream..." Said Blonde stood up and stretched. He had been a part of a fleet that had challenged the Grand Line and lost badly. Of the twelve ships Pirate Admiral Mei Terumi had lead, eight had been sunk and the other four scuttled.

The Mists of Glory, Man-o-war flagship had survived intact. The Silence, a frigate captained by Zabuza Momoichi, Mei's right hand man had got away with some damage sustained. Then there was True Sight, another frigate captained by the fleet Navigator Ao that had escaped with most of her crew dead. The last surviving ship was the Will of Fire, on which said blonde found himself alone. The captain, Asuma Sarutobi, was nowhere in sight. Come to think of it, the whole boat seemed completely deserted.

"Hello? Anybody there? It's me Naruto!" Naruto swung down the main masts, leaping like a cat between ledges before landing gracefully on the deck. "Where is everyone?"

Naruto Uzumaki scowled. "Don't tell me the bastards left without me!" He crossed his arms. "Mei's gonna be upset about this..."

Mei had something of a soft spot for Naruto, calling him her lucky charm and cuddling him for good luck at every opportunity. Originally Mei had wanted Naruto on her own ship but Naruto had asked for a chance to prove himself as a pirate and Mei couldn't resist his pure blue eyes and his cheerful disposition, so she had put him on one of the vanguard ships with one if her veteran commanders. The problem was Asuma didn't like the fact his first mate Kurenai seemed to share Mei's apparent interest in the blonde so Asuma always gave Naruto the worst jobs.

Whilst Naruto was unaware of the reason, he was aware of the hatred so it would not surprise him much that he had been abandoned by Asuma.

Walking around deck Naruto scowled. While being abandoned was less than ideal, the complete lack of wind was worrying. That could only mean one thing...

There was a large splash and a mountain sized wave smashed into the boat, smashing through it with little difficulty. The last thing Naruto saw was Sea king surfacing some distance away.

'_Oh crap...' _Naruto thought as he struggled to get to the surface. He managed to pull himself up onto a small floating piece of wreckage. As the wreckage floated serenely, Naruto figured there was nothing he could do about his situation, besides he was still sleepy from waking up so suddenly. Plus swimming with all his gear on was so tiring. Satisfied with his logic, Naruto laid back and closed his eyes oblivious to the wave heading his way from a sea king diving back into the water.

* * *

"Excuse me," Naruto blinked lazily and saw a young girl shaking him.

"Ah," Naruto's mouth was dry. He slapped himself and the pretty brunette in front of him swam into focus. She seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform consisting of a pure white version of the marine's coat and had a bandolier filled with small knives. Glancing around, Naruto appeared to be in some sort of storeroom.

"Ah you're alive. That's a relief." The brunette smiled.

"Hi," Naruto smiled weakly. "I'm Naruto," He held out a hand.

"Tenten," she shook his hand. "You are lucky we found you. You were drifting in a piece of broken wood. What happened to you?"

"My crew went to The Grand Line," Naruto stretched out, "looks like we weren't ready for it."

"Ah," Tenten bowed her head, "I am sorry for your loss."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto, with a little help from Tenten, stood up. "So where am I?"

"You are onboard the HMS Dignity, a man-o-war class vessel and Commodore Neji's flagship."

"HMS?" Naruto blinked.

"You haven't heard of the Hyuuga Military Services?" Tenten sounded surprised. "We are the joint biggest military fleet in the East Blue!"

"Can't say I spent much time in the East Blue." Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Ah, that explains it then. At the moment East Blue is mostly Marine controlled. However some Islands are pirate controlled and that's where we come in. Mercenary outfits are hired by people when they feel the Marines aren't protecting them well enough."

"Which from my past experience is most of time," Naruto shook his head.

"Yeah, it's a blessing for us," Tenten chuckled, "There are many mercenary fleets but besides the HMS, the only other major group is the USS, The Uchiha Special Services," Tenten explained. "While we don't usually fight amongst each other we are in competition. HMS prides itself on its naval skill and sense of class whereas the USS prides itself on its firepower and its get the job done attitude."

"I see," Naruto grinned, "Thanks for the lesson."

"It was my pleasure," Tenten smiled back. "The Commodore would like to speak with you if you are able."

"Sure," Naruto shrugged. "I don't have anything else planned."

Tenten led the way through the halls of the ship. They were a carpeted and there were paintings on the wall. It looked more like a posh hotel than the inside of a ship built for battle.

The commodore's quarters were no less lavishly decorated than the rest of the ship. A large oak table with various sea charts dominated the center of the room. A large window showed several more man-o-war vessels and frigates all surrounding this one. All bore a flag with a white eye.

There was a clink and Naruto's attention was drawn to an expensive looking drinks cabinet. A man wearing a similar outfit to Tenten only with more elaborate braiding on the shoulders turned to face him. His eyes were strangely white and were lacking pupils, yet the man seemed to have no difficulty seeing.

"So you have awoken," the man spoke in a clear, refined way. "My name is Commodore Neji Hyuuga. You may address me as sir or milord."

"Er... Yes," Naruto nodded. "Thanks for saving me."

"Do not thank me," Neji took a seat at the table. "My fiancé saw you and instructed me to save you."

A door to the side opened and in walked the epitome of grace. Her long lavender hair seemed to float behind her. Unlike the others, she wore no uniform. She wore a delicate white dress, much like a wedding gown.

"Hubba hubba," Naruto muttered causing the new arrival to blush, Tenten desperately trying to turn a laugh into a cough and a raised eyebrow from Neji that threatened to be lost in his hairline.

"You will show my fiancé the respect she deserves," Neji warned.

"My apologies, milady." Naruto bowed and looked up at her grinning roguishly, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Before he could continue with his introduction he was cut off by Neji.

"The Fox of the Mist, bounty two million belly. Known to be a dangerous individual with little regard for any laws other than his own moral code. Fights using twin swords and twin pistols. Also carries a rifle that is heavily modified." Neji threw a sheet of paper at Naruto.

"Ah good times," Naruto smiled on seeing the picture. It was taken just after he had broken into a jail and rescued some political prisoners of the Marines. Impel Down was a bitch to bust into and he only had to visit the top level. He dreaded to think what is was like on the lower levels.

"Amazing," the woman smiled. "Ano... Could you tell me some stories about the pirate's life?"

"Of course...I'm sorry I didn't catch your name milady."

"Hinata Hyuuga," Hinata curtsied.

"A pleasure," Naruto smiled.

"I am sure the tales are far too wretched for your sensitive nature. It is getting late you should rest." Neji's tone was sharp and Hinata visibly flinched.

"I am sorry for interrupting your meeting," Hinata bowed her head and retreated back to the room.

"And as for you pirate," Neji smirked, "Your bounty would go a long way in paying for done much needed repairs." He rang a bell and two more guards entered the room.

"Yosh! Please do not do anything as unyouthful as resisting!" One of the guards had a massive pair of eyebrows and a bowl cut hair do.

"Please don't do anything troublesome," the second guard with a pineapple style hairdo yawned.

"I won't go down without a fight!" Naruto declared reaching for his swords, which were absent. "Then again," Naruto remarked as he had three pistols pointed at his head, "You make a good argument. I'll be good." He held out his hands that were clapped in irons and was led to a small life boat.

* * *

Naruto glanced at the carving he had made on the wall. There were six full gates of five slashes. This was unbearable... He had been stuck in this cell for half an hour.

Unlike the rest of the ship, the cells were not carpeted. They had a simple wooden bench and a toilet area that had frosted glass to give the prisoner some degree of privacy.

"What are you in for shithead?" The foul mouthed woman opposite him asked.

"Broke some people out of a marine prison." Naruto remarked, "And how about you my fine lady?"

"I ain't anybody's fine lady you cock sucker," the woman spat, "Anyway the name's Tayuya of the Sound four, maybe that name sounds familiar?"

"Doesn't ring any bells."

"What? You live under a rock or something shithead?" Tayuya snapped, "The Sound four are the elite pirate captains of Orochimaru's serpent fleet!"

"Never heard of them," Naruto shook his head, "Though I have spent the last ten years on the Grand Line."

"No shit? What's it like?"

"In a word terrifying, in two words amazingly terrifying." Naruto smiled. "After all that happened I want to go back there. Maybe with a good ship and my own crew and meet up with my friends, maybe give an asshole captain a smack down."

"Well tell you what," Tayuya smirked. "Bust me outta here and I can get you a ship."

"At least a frigate?" Naruto asked.

"I can get you a man-o-fucking war if you wanted."

"Deal," Naruto grinned. "I'll start working on a plan."

"Hey... What's your name shithead?" Tayuya asked.

"Zzzz..." Naruto snored.

"Son of a bitch," Tayuya felt her hopes drop.

* * *

A sudden jerk tipped Naruto off of the bench was sleeping on. The sound of heavy winds and rain battered the sides of the ship.

Naruto's internal clock told him it was approaching midnight and the blondes stomach reminded him he hadn't eaten in a while. He was also aware of footsteps coming his way.

He laid on the floor pretending to be asleep when he heard his cell open and two people enter.

"Are you sure about this?" Naruto recognized Tenten's voice.

"Yes," a quieter voice which Naruto recognized as Hinata's responded.

"Fine," Tenten shook Naruto. "Wake up damn it."

"How may I help such lovely ladies?" Naruto rolled onto his side.

"By kidnapping me." Hinata responded.

"Pardon," Naruto cleared out his ears.

"Hinata doesn't want to marry that jerk Neji, but her family will force her. We need you to kidnap her and escape. With a bounty like yours you must be a good pirate, plus you survived the Grand Line." Tenten explained as she handed a Naruto his weapons back. She noted how he tenderly checked his rifle before slinging it over his shoulder, yet didn't care much for his swords and pistols.

"I'll need a boat and crew enough to run it." Naruto remarked.

"We have a small lifeboat and us," Tenten countered.

"Are we near land?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Tenten showed Naruto a map, "There should be a small town called Orange Town I think just a few hours away. The storm should cover our escape."

"Alright," Naruto checked himself, "Release the woman opposite me."

"May I ask why?" Tenten scowled.

"I promised her I'd help her escape and I never go back on my promises." Naruto declared.

Tenten sighed whilst Hinata seemed to swoon slightly at his heroic declaration. He was just like the heroes in the books Hinata read. Charismatic and brave... She wondered if he had as much casual sex with rich maidens as the heroes in her books and found herself blushing madly at the thought of Naruto sweeping her off her feet.

"Wake up," Tenten pushed Tayuya off of her bed.

"The fuck?" She growled.

"It's time to go," Naruto grinned.

"What?" Tayuya blinked. "You actually did it? Well I'll be damned shithead."

"I'd appreciate if you watched your language in front of Hinata," Tenten threatened.

"Bite me bitch!" Tayuya snapped back.

"I do so love it when my friends get along." Naruto smiled.

"Who said we're friends?" Tenten and Tayuya yelled together before looking at each other.

Hinata couldn't help but giggle.

* * *

Naruto worked on lowering the boat, Tayuya helping him. Tenten and Hinata sat in the boat, uneasily watching the swelling sea.

"There's no way that piece if shit will help us get through this storm," Tayuya spat as she fumbled with the ropes, the rain was lashing down soaking her to the bone and her colleague's unshakable smile was beginning to grate on her nerves.

"Have faith Tayuya-chan," Naruto merely chuckled as a fierce wave struck the ship splashing Tayuya and causing her to fall to her knees.

"Hey! Who goes there?" A guard carrying a lantern hurried towards them.

"Shit," Tayuya cursed.

"Lower the boat then get in," Naruto smiled, "I'll join you in a second." He walked to the guard drawing his cutlasses. "Now there are two ways this could go..." Naruto started as the guard turned around and raced to the alarm bell yelling for assistance.

Naruto sighed as he sprinted along the deck, easily leaping over the cargo and other obstacles despite the pitiful lighting from the occasional oil lantern before pouncing on the guard, stabbing him in each shoulder with his blades and forcing him to the ground before bringing the two blades across and cutting off the man's head to end his suffering. More guards had been drawn by the noise and tried to fire at him with their rifles but the force wind and rain limited their effectiveness. Naruto ran up to the main mast and clambered up it like a monkey, the shots from the guards splintering the woodwork around him. With a catlike grace he flipped onto the sails and ran to the end before leaping off in an elegant dive.

"There's no way he can survive out there," was the general consensus of the guards who carried their dead coworkers to the lower deck and didn't think if reporting it to anyone until morning.

On the small lifeboat, Tayuya found herself rowing as Tenten watched her uneasily. Hinata simply huddled up, her white dress soaked.

Without warning the water exploded and. Naruto leapt from the sea and landed on the boat, rocking it slightly.

"Well that was fun," Naruto laid back in the boat glancing at the prison ship he had just left. It was a decent sized ship but nowhere near what Naruto wanted. He wanted the best damn ship possible and the best damn crew. He would make himself a legend and leave the life of a pirate captain.

He grinned as he unslung his rifle and hummed a happy song that was lost in the howling wind and Tayuya's cursing.

* * *

The mood was grim in the dimly lit room. Scrolls were scattered across a wooden table and three figures stood around it. The first had an impossibly large sword across his back. He wore a tattered marine cloak and bandages over his mouth. This was the ex-vice Admiral Zabuza Momoichi.

The other male wore a tattered Hyuuga uniform and an eye patch. This was the ex-Hyuuga navigator Ao.

The last of the group sighed. Mei Terumi was a beautiful woman, her auburn hair seemed to float around her. Her one visible eye seemed to pierce your very soul whilst her flowing robes added to her sex appeal by showing just enough to give your imagination plenty to work with. But before that she was a pirate captain, hell she was a pirate admiral. She once had a fleet of twelve vessels, three of which were large man-O-war class. Now she had three, possibly four if the Will of Fire had survived but knowing Asuma, he probably claimed the ship as his own and was off trying to seduce young girls. Worst of all he had Naruto and he knew how much she valued the boy.

"Damn the bearded bastard," Mei muttered.

"We won't miss him." Zabuza crossed his arms. "But his ship and crew we will miss. We have to pull out of the Grand Line and regroup."

"Agreed." Ao nodded.

Mei bit her lip, as much as she wanted to hunt down the Will of Fire, there was little else she could do. "Be safe Naruto," she whispered before ordering a withdrawal from the Grand Line.

* * *

~~~~~~~~[_Chapter End_/~~~~~~~

Profiles

**Name**: Naruto 'the Fox' Uzumaki (2,000,000 Belly Bounty)  
**Age**: 18 **Gender**: Male  
**Crimes:** Trespassing on Marine Property, Helping in the Release of Wanted Criminals, Murder of Marines in the execution of their duty, copyright infringement.  
**Appearance:** Six whisker like scars, bright blue eyes and blonde hair with a single Jack Sparrow style braid with several lucky charms stitched into it. Wears a white sage cloak over black body armor (Think an all black version of AC BF main character with all health upgrades bought and in black). Carries twin swords, pistols and a rare rifle.  
**Fighting Style**: Tends to favor melee combat. Very dexterous and capable of free running.  
**Personality:** Likes to think he's something of a ladies man. Tends to be cheerful and friendly right until he is sticking a sword in your spinal cord.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Being suffocated in Mei's breasts during her hugs.

**Name:** Tenten (No Alias or Bounty) Tenshi  
**Age:** 19 **Gender:** Female  
**Crimes: **None as of yet  
**Appearance:** Wears a white Marine outfit, the standard issue for a Hyuuga mercenary. The only personalization is a bandolier full of throwing daggers. Has twin bun hairstyle with brown hair and eyes.  
**Fighting Style:** Unknown  
**Personality:** Kind hearted, Tenten tends to be willing to help out those in need. She is close friends with the Hyuuga 'Princess' Hinata.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Interesting weapons

**Name:** Hinata (No Alias or Bounty) Hyuuga  
**Age:** 20 **Gender**: Female  
**Crimes**: None as of yet  
**Appearance:** Wearing a white wedding dress. Her lavender hair falls down to her back. Has a very graceful aura and has a well-developed body.  
**Personality:** Always the wall flower, Hinata tends to be shy and cowardly. As such she greatly admires those who have bravery and are making their own way in the world. She is friends with Tenten.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** 'Icha Icha: Pirate's Tales' series of books.

**Name**: Commodore Neji Hyuuga [HMS]  
**Age:** 26 Gender: Male  
**Crimes:** Being a jackass  
**Appearance**: Wears the standard HMS uniform with +5 Braiding of Jackassery  
**Fighting Style**: Summoning others to fight for him  
**Personality**: A real jack ass. Even his mother struggled to love him.

**Name: **Tayuya The Foul (6,500,000 Bounty)  
**Age: **20 **Gender: **Female  
**Crimes: **Profanity, Questioning the Sexual Preferences of an Officer of the Law during execution of their duties.  
**Appearance: **Pretty much the same outfit she wears in Naruto.  
**Fighting Style: **Unknown  
**Personality: **A young maiden forced to act tough due to her upbringing. Hides her feelings behind a wall of abusive language.

**Name:** Mei 'Limestone' Terumi (500,000,000 Bounty)  
**Age:** Never ask a woman their age Gender: Female  
**Crimes:** Piracy, Arson, Murder, Kidnapping, Crashing Weddings  
**Appearance:** Wearing a loose robe. Her hair appears almost as if it flowing  
**Fighting Style:** Unknown  
**Personality:** A passionate woman who is affectionate to those she cares for. A good leader if somewhat unexperienced. Tends to take failure personally.

**Name:** Zabuza 'Mist Demon' Momoichi (600,000,000 Bounty)  
**Age:** Daren't Ask **Gender:** Assumed Male  
**Crimes:** A lot… seriously this guy probably committed every crime in the book then wrote a whole new book on the crimes he had invented and committed.  
**Appearance:** Wears a very tattered Marine outfit and bandages covering his mouth.  
**Fighting Style**: Unknown  
**Personality**: He's Zabuza. Enough said.

**Name**: Ao 'the All-Seeing' Hyuuga (15,750,000 Bounty with 250,000 extra offered by HMS)  
**Age**: Old **Gender:** Male  
**Crimes:** Not many really. Has been accused of Voyeurism in almost every sector of the sea.  
**Appearance:** Wears a very tattered HMS outfit and eye patch.  
**Fighting Style:** Unknown  
**Personality:** Not much of one


	2. Chapter 2: Enter the Rivals

Naruto: Ninja Pirate

A/N: Well I can't believe the positive feedback and number of favorites and follows that this story had received in such a small period of time. Thank you to all you who have read and reviewed this story.

This chapter is what I like to think of as the last of the Naruto intro chapters, introducing the major Naruto characters that are a recurring cast. It also actually starts to hint at the story. No matter what universe Naruto is in, he will always be the child of prophecy. While his story runs side by side with the Straw hats for the most part. His aim and adventures will be different.

Reviews Answered

A few reviews mentioned that they thought Naruto's bounty was small. While Naruto was on the Grand Line for ten years he was constantly coddled by Mei for most of his time on the Grand Line. His bounty is so low because he didn't do anything of note for the first nine years. There are other reasons why his bounty is so small but they will be revealed later. The bounties for the other characters (with the exception of Tayuya) were actually lower than they were supposed to be. (They were added as an afterthought and I forgot to actually check the bounties of other characters before uploading. My bad.)

There were also some asking about Naruto's devil fruit. Naruto will get a power up later although whether it be a devil fruit or something else is undecided. Currently Naruto is fairly strong but nowhere near the level he needs to be for leading a crew onto the Grand Line. Naruto's journey is still being planned so I can't really comment. We'll see what happens. If he does end up with a devil fruit I want it to be something unique. I have an idea (it is not really related to Naruto's abilities in Naruto, although it is based on the abilities of a character from Naruto).

Disclaimer: I own nothing…

Story Start

* * *

Chapter 2: Enter the Rivals

There was a steady dripping, deliberately designed to drive the prisoners of the small wooden cell mad. The cell was very cramped, holding three people. It had a broken bench and a bucket. Oh and a small window that showed the calm seas outside.

Tayuya scowled heavily. She wished she was back in her cell in the HMS prison vessel. That cell was nicer than this one and she had been locked in by herself. In this one she had to share it with two people she really didn't like.

"What's the matter Tayuya-chan?" Naruto asked with a grin. "Not enjoying yourself?"

"I'm nobodies 'Chan'!" She snapped. It was a mistake to ever have put any amount of faith in the idiot blonde. No sooner had they escaped from the Hyuuga than they had run into a USS patrol frigate, The Crow. Whilst the USS and the HMS were not fighting each other, they were not above ransoming members of each other's forces. Naruto had taken one look at the Uchiha cadets pointing rifles at him and declared he was going to sleep! What idiot sleeps when at gun point?! It infuriated Tayuya to no end.

"Will you to lovebirds keep it down?" Tenten sighed, "Some of us couldn't sleep when we were captured. I'll need all my strength to rescue Hinata-Sama."

"Lovebirds?! Fuck you Panda girl!" Tayuya scowled and began plotting ways to kill her current cell mates.

"So these are our guests." A man wearing the black marine styled jacket that was the mark if a USS cadet. It was lined with a fine gold braid that made a winding pattern down his arms. He looked no older than Naruto and smirked arrogantly at them, his hand resting on an expensive Katana. His duck shaped hair brought smirks to Tenten and Tayuya's faces.

"Hey when's dinner served?" Naruto asked.

"When I decide," the man snapped.

"Worst jailer ever," Naruto sighed. "The Hyuuga at least gave me regular food."

"... You do understand the concept of a cell correct? This isn't a hotel."

"When I get out of here I will leave this place a horrible review." Naruto declared.

"Like I give a damn!"

"What seemed to the fuss?" Another similarly dressed man walked in. This one was taller than Duckhair.

"Itachi... I mean Sir! The prisoners are making a nuisance Sir!"

"I see Cadet Sasuke," the now named Itachi looked at Naruto lazily," What seems to be the problem?"

"Duckbutt over here won't give me my meal." Naruto proclaimed.

"I see, I am sorry sir he's new." Itachi pulled out a notepad to Sasuke's horror. "And what would sir like today?"

"I am feeling partial to a shrimp ramen," Naruto nodded.

"And for the ladies?" Itachi asked.

"Don't take their orders!" Sasuke fumed. "They are prisoners!"

"If I don't they might leave us a bad review." Itachi replied calmly.

"Damn it!" Sasuke stormed off.

"He needs to get a sense of humor." Naruto remarked dryly.

"He has a lot of pressure on his shoulders," Itachi sighed. "Having such an incredibly sexy and talented older brother is hard for him."

"His brother sounds like quite the guy." Naruto smirked. "He would make a great addition to my crew."

"Unfortunately I am quite happy here."

"You're Duckbutt's brother?" Naruto blinked, "Meh I'd give you an eight at best."

"I am at least a nine," Itachi dryly responded.

"I have to agree with the blonde," Tenten added her penny's worth.

"Personally I think shitheads being generous. I'd give you a seven." Tayuya responded.

"Damn..." A cloud of depression swept over Itachi. "I have no choice but to end my life to save my honor."

"Don't commit seppuku damn it!" Sasuke appeared from nowhere and struggled against his older brother.

"Okay... I'll stop." Itachi stood up straight and flicked some dust off of his shoulders. "I have recovered."

"Good..." Sasuke turned to Naruto. "We usually don't bother with small fry like you but you brought us Hinata Hyuuga so we have decided not to kill you. You will instead be volunteered into the Uchiha correction combat forces."

"I'll pass." Naruto beamed, "Thanks for the offer though."

"Then you'll die!" Sasuke stormed off, his older brother watching him.

"It's been a while hasn't it?" Naruto's smile faded slightly, "I haven't seen you since ..."

"Do not speak of such thing, not when you don't know who is listening." Itachi whispered.

"Ah... Sorry," Naruto crossed his arms. "So you letting me go?"

"Yes," Itachi opened the cell much to the others surprise. "Your personal effects can be found in the armory. Lady Hinata is in my brother's room."

"If he lays a finger on her..." Tenten growled.

"That would be greatly unexpected." Itachi smiled at a joke only he understood.

"What are you getting out of this fucktard?" Tayuya scowled.

"You are rather untrusting aren't you? Although it is not surprising considering you are one if Orochi's lackeys."

"My Tayuya-chan is no one's lackey! Except mine of course." Naruto proclaimed.

"I'm not your 'Chan'!" Tayuya responded.

"But you didn't deny being his lackey though," Tenten pointed out.

"Ah fuck you Panda!"

"Bite me."

"Given your obsession with this Hinata chick I figure you'd enjoy it you fucking carpet muncher!"

"What did you say?" Tenten growled.

"Ladies, ladies," Naruto stepped between the two. "If you want to make out, please wait until we are in a safe place and I have a good view."

Tenten and Tayuya both glared at Naruto who simply laughed and put his hands behind his head grinning cheekily. Tension temporarily defused Tayuya returned her attention to the impassive Itachi.

"Well if you are all finished feel free to leave." Itachi stood aside as Naruto and Tenten raced by him. Tayuya hesitated.

"Won't you get blamed for our release?" Tayuya scowled.

"Not if HQ never learns you were here." Itachi smiled and took a step towards her before his presence changed from calm and friendly to absolutely terrifying. "I warn you know snake whore. I know not what you plan but if I find out you sold Naruto to the freak you call master. I will break you in ways even Orochimaru would find inhumane. Understood?"

Tayuya could barely move under the killing intent Itachi was emitting.

"Yes," she choked out.

"Good." Itachi seemed to vanish into the shadows.

"What the fuck..." Tayuya shivered.

"Hey you coming my Tayuya-chan?" Naruto's cheerful voice dispelled some of her fear.

"I'm nobody's 'Chan'," she muttered but her heart wasn't in it.

* * *

The frigate was surprisingly lightly manned, although Naruto suspected Itachi may have slipped something into the ship's rations to ensure that their escape caused minimal casualties amongst his own men. While Itachi and Naruto were something approaching friends, Itachi was a man of honor and Naruto knew he would not put his own men in danger. It had been several years since Naruto and Itachi had met. Back before Naruto had become a pirate himself. Back then he was just a slave. A small, tortured boy saved by a crew of misfit pirates and a true hero who they called first mate. Naruto found himself reaching for a rifle that wasn't there and sighed.

The ship was as one would expect from an organization that prides itself on military efficiency. There was no wasted space. Everything was plain and simple, much unlike their Hyuuga rivals. Unfortunately this simplicity made the ship very easy to explore and Naruto quickly lead the two girls to the armory where Naruto retrieved his effects. Once again Tenten couldn't help but notice the care he took with the rifle.

"That rifle's important to you isn't it?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah," Naruto smiled sadly. It was such a strange expression on his almost always smiling face. "It was given to me by a person I really admire."

"Really?" Tenten smiled, "I'd like to meet the guy who owned such a wonderful rifle."

"I hope you don't for a while." Naruto stated.

"Why's that?" Tenten grinned, "Worried I'd decide to follow him rather than you?"

"No," Naruto shook his head, "You are free to walk your own path. I wouldn't force you to follow me. If after here you decide to take Hinata and find someone who actually has a ship and a crew to protect Hinata, I would give you my best wishes. The reason I hope you don't meet him for a while," Naruto closed his eyes, "Is because he died. He died saving my life."

"Oh…" Tenten silently slung her bandolier over her shoulder and checked her knives. Looking at Naruto's sad face she wanted to try and cheer him up but couldn't think of anything to say so stayed silent cursing herself for ever bringing up the conversation. Fortunately Naruto was not one to stay down for long.

"So… you seem to really care about Hinata," Naruto started searching the stores of the armory for anything else that could be of use to him.

"Ah…" Tenten smiled sadly, "A long time ago I applied to be in the HMS Special Cadet Training Program. The tests were grueling and it tested me to my physical and mental limits. But I passed. My family were so proud…"

"I always thought that you were awesome, now I know so," Naruto smiled.

"Ah thanks," Tenten looked away. She was always embarrassed when people complimented her. "But despite ranking third out of all of the people who applied I was turned down."

"Why?" Naruto scowled. "Were there limited places?"

"Yeah, but that wasn't why I failed. The top twenty were to be accepted… but the twenty first candidate was from a prominent supporter of the HMS. They looked through all of those who had passed and looked for the one which had the least political influence. I was from a small family of no importance so…"

"That sucks," Naruto scowled. "If I were in charge, I'd pick you any day of the week!" He gave a delighted whoop as he found a small sheet of orange material and turned it into a balaclava with tufts of his yellow hair stick out from beneath the balaclava.

"Yeah," Tenten smiled sadly. "You're the second person who felt like that."

"I'm guessing Hinata was the first," Naruto picked up a pair of black flintlock pistols, briefly compared them with his own and tossed aside his own battered pair, holstering the black pistols. He grabbed a black hat off the rack and checked his reflection. "Not bad," He muttered under his breath.

"Yeah," Tenten smiled. "She chose me as her personal guard. She is my best friend and even though she is my superior, she never ordered me to do anything. She is so kind and gentle… I feel I have to protect her."

"She's lucky to have such a good friend as you," Naruto smiled warmly as he started shuffling through the swords and daggers.

"Maybe…" Tenten looked crestfallen. "I couldn't do much for her when her father gave her to Neji and I couldn't do anything when Neji mistreated her. The only saving grace about Neji is that he had little interest in pursuing a physical relationship with her. Admittedly he did seem to enjoy insulting her but all I could do is stand and watch. She probably thinks I am a terrible friend…" Her knuckles whitened as she gripped a dagger.

"Don't worry," Naruto looked her dead in the eyes with a deadly serious look, "I would be honored to have a friend half as good as you. You went above and beyond the call of duty to get her away and protect her. I consider it a privilege to have you in my crew that is if you want to be. "

Tenten suddenly focused heavily on adjusting her bandolier. _'How can he say something so embarrassing with a straight face?' _She though fighting off a blush. "I guess… so long as Hinata is happy then I have no objection to being a part of your crew."

"So..." Naruto grinned at her. "Hinata's only a friend?"

Tenten opened her mouth to hurl abuse at her perverted captain when a familiar voice cut her off.

"Well fuckface, you ready?" Tayuya walked up to the pair, twiddling a small flute in her fingers.

"You know how to play that?" Naruto's cheerful grin was back and Tenten almost thought she had imagined the whole serious face with the instantaneous change. He had discarded his damaged cutlasses for a couple of wakizashi. While smaller than a katana, the twin Asian-styled blade appealed to Naruto. Plus they were lighter than the cutlasses and suited his fighting style better. Plus the black sheaths looked awesome alongside his white cloak (in his opinion).

"Well," Tayuya played it briefly, "I have... unique ways of fighting."

"Devil fruit?" Naruto and Tenten responded.

"Devil fruit," Tayuya grinned.

"Care to demonstrate?" Tenten asked.

"You'll see," Tayuya promised.

"Spoil sport," Naruto stuck his tongue out childishly.

* * *

Neji Hyuuga did not get angry. He calmly and objectively analyzed situations and dealt with them as he felt necessary. The fact he had split his table in half was completely unrelated to such a trivial emotion as rage. He just decided he needed a new table and couldn't justify the expense while he had a perfectly good table. Yes, that was it.

"So," Neji turned his glare to the unlucky guard who had the misfortune of drawing the short straw. "Care to tell me why the alarm was not sounded."

"Well," the guard gulped nervously. "We didn't think that any could possibly survive swimming in that storm."

"And you didn't think to check if any other prisoners had gone missing?"

"Er… I was asleep at the time sir." The guard said brightly, "I wasn't on duty."

"What is the oath of the Hyuuga?" Neji asked solemnly.

"In Life I Serve, In Death I rest my duty done." The guard quoted.

"Congratulations," Neji's fierce gaze intensified. "Your duty is done." Before the poor guard could even register Neji's word, the Hyuuga commodore had pulled out an extravagant pistol stylized to look with a dragon and shot the man through the head. The door opened and two more guards dragged the body outside. "Let this be a lesson," Neji warned. "So long as you live, you are on duty. Never forget this. Send me the special cadets."

Neji returned to his ruined desk and picked up some papers. His plans had always been simple. He had to raise his ranking in order to marry nobility, then he would move up the noble rankings via a series of unfortunate accidents and would be head of the HMS. Then he would stop this petty mock war with the USS and turn it into a real war. Once they were dealt with the pirate scum would be next. Once all his enemies lay dying, he would repel the World Government and become the Emperor of the East Blue. But all this depending on him getting into a noble family. He had almost thanked a god he didn't believe in when the head of the HMS offered his daughter to him. That cut down on the number of accidents that needed to happen greatly.

"Special Cadet, Rock Lee reporting!" The bowl cut wearing eyebrow monster charged into the room. Beneath an open Hyuuga uniform, Neji was distressed to see a skin tight white body suit.

"Special Cadet, Shikamaru Nara reporting," The pineapple haired officer wore his uniform without any modifications, but had a somewhat sloppy appearance.

Neji looked over both of them. The Brawn and the Brain they were called. The strongest special team he had under his control. Naruto was a mere pirate and one with a low bounty at that. There was no way he would be able to deal with the combined skills of his two best operatives.

"Welcome," He finally spoke, "I have a mission that requires your skills."

"Yosh!" Lee practically vibrated with enthusiasm.

"It has come to my attention that my fiancé has been kidnapped. The person responsible you should recognize," Neji pushed the bounty poster towards his two minions.

"I see," Shikamaru scowled, "He didn't strike me as the kidnapping type."

"Even you make mistakes Shikamaru-sempai!" Lee beamed. "Do not let it get you down! Some pushups were surely make you feel better."

"I doubt it," Shikamaru sighed. "How did he get out of his cell? How did he get onboard this ship and into your bedroom in order to kidnap Hinata-sama."

"He had help," Neji showed another document. "Tenten Tenshi, applied once to join the special cadets but was found lacking. She must have harbored a grudge since then and finally saw her chance for revenge against the HMS. She kidnapped Hinata after Naruto somehow seduced her and convinced her to join him."

"Hmm…" Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. None of this sounded right but it wasn't his place to question his orders.

"And you wish for us to save her ladyship!" Lee saluted, "We are going to need our own boat!"

"Of course," Neji nodded and handed a document to Shikamaru. "This is the permit to use the HMS Intrepid and her crew. She is one of the fastest ships in my fleet. The captain is a little strange but he is a good man," Neji sighed and glanced at Lee. He dreaded to think how the special cadet would react to the captain. They were too damn similar as it was.

"We'll have her back before you know it!" Lee saluted with far more energy than was required and charged out of the room.

"Any other parameters for the mission's completion?" Shikamaru lazily asked.

"Yes, whilst Hinata-sama's safety is the primary concern, Naruto Uzumaki and Tenten Tenshi are threats that are to be neutralized should the opportunity present itself."

"Understood," Shikamaru nodded before following after his energetic comrade at a far more relaxed pace.

"Remember," Neji called out as Shikamaru reached the door. "Failure is not an option."

"Understood," Shikamaru nodded as he left the room.

* * *

The hallways of the Uchiha frigate were deathly quiet as the inhabitants all apparently were sleeping or otherwise engaged on the deck. The only noise was gentle clicking noise as a certain blonde haired pirate tried to pick a black door. Naruto had started to wonder if any colour that wasn't red and black was against the Uchiha code or something. He didn't like the fact they were cornered if things went south. Sasuke's room had been at the far end of a corridor. The only thing preventing a passing patrol seeing them was a weapons cabinet next to the door.

Naruto scowled as he broke the lock pick he was using. "Damn this lock is hard to pick."

"I thought you said you could have this door opened in a jiffy," Tenten whispered fiercely.

"Stay calm," Naruto whispered soothingly. "We'll save Hinata, I promise you."

"Just hurry," Tenten whispered as she drew a knife from her bandolier and began throwing it up and catching it.

Naruto reached into his hair and pulled out another lock pick that had been concealed in his hair braid and set to work on the lock again. He froze at the sound of voices rapidly approaching.

"Damn it," Tenten swapped the knife into a reverse grip. "I'll keep them busy."

"Wait panda bitch," Tayuya grinned. "As much as you would like to get revenge for the lost innocence of your precious lesbian lover."

"Fuck… you!" Tenten growled from clenched teeth.

"I can put an end to the enemy quickly and quietly." Tayuya picked up her flute and stepped from cover. "Hi there sailors," She purred as she walked towards them swaying her hips.

"Er…" One of the Uchiha guards seemed unsure what to make of the situation. She was quiet tall and carried herself well. She was wearing the standard Uchiha outfit. The only personalization was a black and red bow around the bottom of her long black hair, which fell down to her shoulders. The standard Uchiha armament adorned her hip, the standard black katana and a black flintlock rifle.

"Hey there pretty thing," The older winked, "I guess lil' Sasuke does enjoy female company after all."

"Shouldn't we capture her Shisui-san?" the female Uchiha asked.

"Nah," Shisui smiled. "It would be a crime to arrest a pretty girl."

"Shisui-san," The girl face palmed. "Dereliction of duty is a crime!"

"Why thank you," Tayuya smirked, "Maybe you'd let me play you a song?"

"Sure," Shisui smiled.

"Seriously!" the small girl now abandoned all pretense of duty. "Why are you always like this?"

"Ah you're too uptight Mikoto-chan." Shisui waved her away.

Tayuya started to play her song.

With a yawn, Shisui smiled. "So this is the power of Tayuya the foul?"

"What?" Tayuya blinked and silence ruled until a dull thud interrupted it. Mikoto had fallen to the floor and was snoring. "How do you know who I am?"

"I'm Itachi's best friend," Shisui puffed up his chest. "He tells me all of his plans and that included the minion of the snake freak. I'm wearing ear plugs which is why your ability didn't affect me by the way."

"So…" Tayuya blinked. "The fuck happens now?"

"Yeah," Shisui handed her a key. "Itachi forgot to give you this."

"Ah," Tayuya looked at the key.

"Now," Shisui grinned. "Since I've done you a favor you should do me one."

"No chance." Tayuya growled. "I aint fucking doing anything."

"It is more a request of your captain." Shisui grinned.

"I am a fucking captain!" Tayuya growled.

"Does that mean Naruto is an admiral?" Shisui looked impressed. "And at such a young age."

"No, that shithead isn't even a captain! You need a ship and a crew to be called that."

Shisui suddenly looked around. "So… where's your ship and crew?"

"I…" Tayuya faltered. "Shut it fuck face."

"All I want is for my friend here to get away from the USS. She is a gentle soul and this line of work is going to crush her eventually. If Naruto is someone Itachi can trust, he's someone I can trust too." Shisui smiled. "The kid is one of the nine after all."

"Nine what?" Tayuya scowled.

"AH… I said too much," Shisui said in a sing song voice.

"Hey, so what's happening?" Naruto peered around the weapons cabinet with Hinata and Tenten peering from behind him.

"Ah, you opened the door." Shisui looked at the key in his hands. "Guess you don't need this."

"That's right fucker." Tayuya grinned. "We don't need to look after the girl."

"Look after who?" Naruto looked at the sleeping woman. "What's up with her?"

"Tayuya's devil fruit power allows her to manipulate sound waves. Admittedly with her limited mastery of it, all she can really do is make people really sleepy. That's why her bounty is so low. Even with a potentially deadly fruit, she is still small fry."

Tayuya vibrated with impotent rage, tears in her eyes. It was true. The only reason she was one of Orochimaru's captains is because she had a devil fruit power. She was the weakest of the captains. All it took was a small amount of preparation to render her powers completely useless. Her powers only really worked in quiet areas as well.

There was a loud smack and Shisui staggered backwards with a surprised look, his nose broken and bleeding.

"Don't bad mouth a member of my crew. You badmouth a member of my crew, you badmouth me." Naruto growled whist cracking his knuckles.

"Shitface?" Tayuya blinked.

"Sure she might not be much at the moment but I see her potential. She will one day be a name that is known across all of the seas of this world. You understand?"

"Yeah," Shisui snapped his nose back into its previous shape, "Hah… I see why Itachi likes you. What's your endgame?"

"Pardon?" Naruto blinked.

"Why are you gathering a crew?"

"So I can head to the grand line and meet up with my old friends."

"And then what?" Shisui asked.

"Huh?" Naruto scowled.

"Why do you sail? Why do you want to be a pirate captain?" Shisui pushed.

"Because…" Naruto's smile dropped. "I have a promise to fulfill," His hand travelled to the rifle on his back. "I gave my word to a friend."

"Why do you want to know what shithead plans to do?" Tayuya interrupted.

"As one of the nine, you hold the power to change the face of the world." Shisui looked at Naruto intently. "If you had one wish… what would it be?"

"One of the nine? What are you talking about?" Naruto scowled.

"Ah, so he didn't tell you anything," Shisui sighed, "Still what would you wish for?"

"That no one has to go through what I have," Naruto's hand touched his scars. "That those who rule do not abuse their power and a fair and compassionate."

"I see…" Shisui smiled. "As expected as the inheritor of Kurama's will."

"How do you…" Naruto was cut off by a chuckle.

"How indeed?" Shisui nodded to the sleeping cadet. "An important part of a crew is a good cook. My partner is quite gifted in the kitchen." He put a letter in her outfit. "That should answer all her questions when she wakes up."

"But…" Naruto started before Shisui winked and vanished.

"How the hell do they do that?" Tayuya muttered.

"Argh… what did he mean by one of the nine?" Naruto scowled.

"More importantly," Tenten cleared her throat, "How are we going to get off of this ship?"

"There should be several lifeboats," Naruto remarked as he picked up Mikoto in a bridal carry, earning her a jealous look from Hinata.

"Are we really taking that bitch with us?" Tayuya scowled.

"Apparently so," Naruto smirked. "That Shisui knew a lot of things but refused to elaborate. Maybe his partner can enlighten us. And if not she's apparently a good cook. Now… to the life boats!"

* * *

Itachi watched as Naruto and his 'crew' escaped from the ship. The sea was calm and pleasant and with the Hyuuga girl's inherit abilities as a navigator, Itachi was sure they would reach Orange Town with next to no trouble.

"Hey there boss," Shisui appeared behind Itachi.

"You have been talking about things that shouldn't have been mentioned." Itachi spoke softly.

"Ahahaha," Shisui smiled softly. "The world will move forward with or without his knowledge. At least this way he can start to search for answers."

"Kurama didn't want him getting involved."

"He was involved the moment he was born. That is the prophecy of the Nine Reincarnations." Shisui pointed out.

"To think that the time of the ninth reincarnation is here again. Have his abilities started to show?"

"Not yet," Shisui grinned. "I couldn't even sense the Sage's Energy. He is just a normal pirate at the moment. If Kurama had fulfilled his side of the prophecy…"

"Kurama sought to end the prophecy." Itachi reminded Shisui, "He didn't want Naruto carrying the burden of being a reincarnation."

"Either way, it looks like Naruto will have to fulfill the prophecy with a handicap." Shisui scowled. "I don't trust that Tayuya."

"Neither do I." Itachi admitted, "However the first part of the puzzle is currently in Orochimaru's possession. Naruto will meet Orochimaru. I only prey he doesn't have to fight him."

"I hear Orange Town is overrun by Buggy's men. Naruto could end up getting a more noticeable bounty there."

"I know," Itachi replied sadly. "From here on out he will get more and more attention. Jiraiya's attempts to keep him out of the eye of the world will get even harder from this point on."

"Are you going to let him know?" Shisui asked.

"Yes," Itachi nodded. "He will want to tell Naruto the prophecy himself."

"Itachi… why did you order us to capture them if you were planning on letting them go?"

"I wanted to see how Naruto had grown," Itachi admitted. "Plus… it will drive Sasuke insane that someone managed to escape after he took responsibility for the prisoners."

"… So basically he's going to be taking the Crow all over the ocean to try and recapture them." Shisui grinned. "That's one way to keep up out of the brewing HMS-USS war."

"I do try," Itachi smiled.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE MY PRISONERS!"

"Ah…" Itachi sighed. "It appears Sasuke has lost the prisoners."

"Go easy on him," Shisui smirked as the two friends made their way back into the heart of the Crow.

* * *

Meanwhile on the boat, Naruto was finding his short attention span put to the test. As much as he wanted to go to sleep until something interesting happened, the boat was too full for him to get comfortable. Plus whenever he started to drop to sleep, a kick from Tayuya put a stop to any attempts to get some sleep.

"I'm bored," Naruto sighed.

"Well you can always take over the rowing," Tayuya growled. Once again she found herself in charge of propelling their boat. Naruto in his role as self-declared captain would occasionally tell her to speed up or to slow down (and get kicked for his trouble) and Hinata as navigator spent all her time looking at maps and checking the local landmarks. Tenten was fondling her weapons and glancing between Naruto and Hinata. Mikoto was still sleeping happily.

"How much longer?" Naruto turned to look at Hinata who was staring intently at maps then glancing around.

"Well… If the position where the Uchiha ship was is where Itachi said it was…" Hinata looked up at Naruto, "Then maybe a few hours."

"Where am I?" A groggy Mikoto got up and looked around.

"In a boat," Naruto supplied helpfully.

"Hey! You are those pirates!" Mikoto jumped up rocking the boat dangerously.

"Sit the fuck down!" Tayuya gripped the boat fearfully.

"Oh… sorry," Mikoto sat down. "Wait… why am I apologizing?"

"Your brother left a letter to explain why you are here," Naruto smiled at the confused Uchiha.

"Oh…" Mikoto felt around in her uniform and found a letter. Her face went stony.

"What?" Naruto asked before Mikoto handed him a letter.

'Dearest Mikoto,

If you are reading this then I am either dead or perfectly healthy or somewhere in between the two. I needed a little extra money in order to buy my dream sword, so I sold you to the blonde pirate Naruto. He seems decent enough and was interested in a cook so… yeah.

Have fun, your loving partner (who will shortly have an awesome sword)

Shisui.'

"Huh… I don't remember paying him," Naruto mused.

"So… you were looking for a cook," Mikoto looked around. "I will have to turn you down I'm afraid."

"Don't be like that," Naruto slapped her on the back laughing, "We are currently in the market for a ship and the rest of my crew but we have the ship sorted almost. Tayuya-chan has got one for us."

"I'm not your 'Chan' damn it!" Tayuya cursed. "How many times must I tell you?"

"I thought you were trying to turn it into your catchphrase." Naruto remarked.

"Well it did seem like that to me," Tenten agreed.

"Ano," Hinata bowed her head, "I was jealous that Tayuya had such a good relationship with Naruto that they had a running gag style catchphrase."

"It does give a catch phrase style vibe." Mikoto added.

"Hey! This conversation is for senior crew members only!" Tayuya growled.

"Hey she admitted she's a member of my crew!" Naruto punched the air.

"Wait I… damn it!" Tayuya's shoulders dropped.

Mikoto watched as the self-proclaimed captain laughed as Tayuya ineffectively cursed him out. The other two girls were sat having their own conversation. They were like a small family of young children. What they needed was an older sister to guide them, Mikoto thought feeling a funny warm feeling in her chest as she imagined them calling her Mikoto-nee or Onee-sama.

"So…" Naruto turned to the Uchiha with a smile, "You sure you don't want to join my crew? We have the super awesome captain… that's me by the way." Naruto grinned.

"Tenten," Tenten nodded at the girl. "I may be ex-HMS but so long as you don't give me reason to hate you, we'll get along just fine."

"Hinata," Hinata smiled warmly. "We'd be honored to have you join our crew."

"Tayuya," Tayuya snorted. "Join or not, I really don't give a fuck."

"You shouldn't swear so much," Mikoto scolded. "A woman such as yourself will never get a husband if you have such a foul mouth."

"The fuck?" Tayuya blinked. No one had ever called her out on her cursing before.

"Ahahaha!" Naruto laughed.

"And you…" Mikoto pointed her finger at the blonde.

"What me?"

"Yes," Mikoto crossed her arms. "You claim to be captain yet you allow your crew to act so inconsiderately!"

"Er… sorry?" Naruto shied away from her glare.

"It is clear to me that you need someone to keep you in line." Mikoto pulled herself up to her full height, "And that person is to be me, Mikoto Uchiha at your service… but you can call me Onee-sama."

"Is it too late to take her back?" Naruto whispered loudly to Tayuya.

"We could always just drop her off the fucking boat," Tayuya responded.

Chapter End

* * *

Profiles

**Name**: Sasuke Uchiha  
**Age**: 18 **Gender**: Male  
**Crimes: **While this Sasuke isn't that bad. The originals crimes are so bad that Sasuke's across the multiverse are all blamed for them…  
**Appearance:** Wearing a black marine outfit and carrying an elegant katana. If Sasuke put as much effort into his fighting style as he did his appearance he would be on par with Whitebeard. Unfortunately he is incredibly vain and proud. Hair gives a +5 diplomacy check when dealing with ducks.  
**Fighting Style**: Unknown, probably just leer people to death with the Uchiha glare ™  
**Personality:** A boy who is just trying to act big to hide his fear that he will disappoint his father. Unfortunately given the duty of being the comedic straight man to Itachi's idiot routine. Takes everything personally.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Having his hair ruffled by Itachi. Tomatoes.

**Name**: Itachi 'the Black Flame' Uchiha  
**Age**: 24 **Gender**: Male  
**Crimes: **Piracy, Being too awesome for a supporting cast member.  
**Appearance:** Just Itachi wearing a black marine outfit. But he makes it look _good. _  
**Fighting Style**: No one has ever survived a fight with him so I'm assuming pretty deadly.  
**Personality:** Cool, calm and collected. Likes to act stupid to force Sasuke to play the straight man.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Pocky. He once took on an entire marine fleet in order to claim their pocky only to find that they had tipped it overboard. There were no survivors.

**Name**: Rock Lee  
**Age**: 19** Gender**: Male  
**Crimes: **Excessive Youth. War Crimes  
**Appearance:** An open HMS jacket with a bright white skin suit underneath. His eyebrows are believed to be some sort of caterpillar life from that lives symbiotically with its host life form.  
**Fighting Style**: Very youthful. His youthful rants are classified as a WMD and a war crime.  
**Personality:** Excessively youthful.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Going commando (Bet you didn't need that image in your head)

**Name**: Shikamaru Nara  
**Age**: 21 Gender: Male  
**Crimes: **Fifty counts of sleeping whilst on duty (Unresolved as he slept through his trials)  
**Appearance:** Just Shikamaru in a scruffy HMS outfit.  
**Fighting Style**: Doesn't fight if he can help it. Tends to let his more than willing partner do the heavy lifting  
**Personality:** Incredibly lazy yet a genius. Sucks at Sudoku though.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Checking out the female cadets whilst pretending to be cloud watching.

**Name**: Shisui 'Mirage' Uchiha (Three chocolate bars and a fruit salad bounty)  
**Age**: 25 Gender: Male  
**Crimes: **Repeated Dereliction of Duty, General not giving of fucks, 'accidently' revealing classified information.  
**Appearance:** Lazily dressed in an Uchiha uniform.  
**Fighting Style**: Not Known  
**Personality:** Laid back and cheerful. Finds his partner too innocent for the USS. The kind of person who would walk out of a cinema when people are queuing and loudly announce fake spoilers to annoy those in the queue.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Embarrassing Itachi and Mikoto. Annoying Sasuke. Leaking fake spoilers.

**Name**: Mikoto Uchiha  
**Age**: 27 Gender: Female  
**Crimes: **None as yet  
**Appearance:** Yes… that Mikoto. She aint Sasuke's mom in this one. She wears the standard Uchiha outfit with the only personalisation being a red ribbon in her hair.  
**Fighting Style**: A master of Iai style quick-draw fighting. While she doesn't really have a combo, you don't need a follow up attack when your targets head is instantly removed from his shoulders.  
**Personality:** A mother hen. She tends to be very protective of those she views as family.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** She has a severe sweet tooth and tends to add chocolate to absolutely everything. Also has a bit of a fetish for a cute younger sister or brother figure calling her 'Onee-sama'.


	3. Chapter 3: Enter the Straw Hats

Naruto: Ninja Pirate

A/N: Nothing to say that wasn't said in the AN of the previous chapter

Disclaimer: Can't think of a funny way to say it so I don't own Naruto and/or One Piece.

* * *

Story Start

Chapter 3: Enter the Straw hat

Dock duty was boring. No one ever entered the docks so for the three pirates sat playing cards, they assumed today would be just as boring as every other day they were unfortunately chosen for dock duty.

There was a small boat, an emergency lifeboat that could have held about six people that was slowly being rowed into port. The rower was cursing loudly as she got the boat to the docks. She was alone. If the pirates hadn't been so distracted by the girl, they would have noticed several straws following the boat. They might have also noticed the small water fountain from the back of the boat, signifying a hole.

"Stop there!" the pirates grinned as they sauntered up to the dock and pointed pistols at the woman. "What's a pretty girl like you doing by herself?"

"Hey," Tayuya looked at the pirates with disinterest. "Any one of your fuckers going to tell me where the fuck I am?"

"This is Orange Town, under the control of Buggy's Pirates!" One of them proudly declared. "Hey if you get with one of us you'll be able to live like a princess!"

"Me? With one of you bitches?" Tayuya snorted. "The blonde shithead has a better chance than you and he's a pretty fucking long shot."

"Well," one of the pirates grinned evilly, "I for one don't need you to say yes to enjoy your body."

"You know what?" Tayuya smiled, "I think I'll just sit back and watch this."

"What do you…?" The pirates were cut off by a series of explosions as a group of people burst from the water.

The first pirate had time to draw his sword before a thrown dagger struck him in his throat, knocking the pirate backwards choking on his own blood. The second pirate's head was separated from the rest of his body by a lightning fast slash. The third died instantly when two wakizashi pierced his heart simultaneously.

"Success," Naruto declared as he pulled his swords from the corpse. "That was quick and easy."

"If this is what passes for a pirate in this area we should have no problems," Mikoto smiled as she sheathed her katana.

"Why the hell did we have to do that?" Tenten wrung her clothes and reclaimed her dagger.

"We had no idea whether there were good pirates or bad pirates in charge." Naruto pointed out. "Thanks to Tayuya we were able to find out they are all scum."

"You're welcome shithead," Tayuya clambered out of the boat and onto the deck and watched the battered lifeboat sink under the sea. "Rest in peace unnamed lifeboat."

"Okay so… what now?" Tenten turned to their captain.

"Well…" Naruto turned to Tayuya.

"We need to get another boat." Tayuya looked at Hinata, "Since someone decided to shoot a hole in our boat."

"I'm really sorry," Hinata bowed her head. "I had never held a pistol before."

"It's not that much of a problem, a small boat like the one we came in on wouldn't survive the trip to Orochimaru's base." Tayuya scowled. "Maybe someone around town knows where we can get a bigger boat from."

"Such a pain," Naruto sighed. "Oh well, let's split up. I want everyone to try to find someone who can tell us where to get a ship! Tenten and Hinata, you're a team. Mikoto and Tayuya, you are also a team. I'll go solo."

"Fair enough," Tenten nodded. "First things first we need to get Hinata some more practical clothes."

"Ano… I wouldn't want to cause a fuss…" Hinata twiddled her fingers. Her white wedding dress outfit was ruined. They had torn it to allow her to swim (Tenten refused to have Hinata act as bait even with Tayuya there as back up).

"I agree with Tenten," Naruto nodded. "So anyone have any money?"

"Shithead… you do understand the concept of being a pirate right? We steal." Tayuya sighed.

"Well… she does have a point," Tenten admitted.

"I kind of thought stealing was one of the main things pirates did." Hinata added.

"Okay…" Naruto conceded, "But only steal what we need and don't get caught."

"Deal," Tenten grinned as she led Hinata away.

Tayuya walked away, closely followed by Mikoto.

Naruto watched his crew with a grin before he walked into the town centre, humming a tune. The town was quiet as the grave. All around him the streets were abandoned. Cocking his ear, he heard the sounds of pursuit heading towards him. Turning he saw an attractive red head in a mini skirt.

"Hey there," Naruto grinned at her causing her to stop.

"Give us back the map of the Grand Line!"

Naruto noticed the three pirates that were chasing her.

"Hey these guys causing you trouble," Naruto adjusted his hat.

"Er… yes." The girl seemed to decide something, "Could you please save me?" She fluttered her eye lids.

"Of course!" Naruto drew himself up to his full height. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, saver of damsels in distress!"

"Why thank you!" The girl smirked as Naruto strolled up to the three pirates and drew his swords.

One of the pirates lashed out with a crude strike that Naruto easily deflected and retaliated by thrusting his other sword directly into the man's jugular. With a sickening squelch Naruto pulled his sword free just in time to parry a desperate lunge from one of the other pirates. The two pirates attacking together forced Naruto back to a wall.

"It's over now bastard!" One of them charged.

"Really?" Naruto grinned as he ran up the wall and pounced off, taking the two guards by surprise as he stabbed both through the throat and brought them both to the floor. With a twist of each sword, Naruto cleaned his swords and sheathed them. "Too easy, do you have a name my fair lady?"

"Nami," The girl introduced herself. "Thank you." She grinned as she sashayed up to the blonde. "How can I ever thank you?"

"Just doing my duty," Naruto smiled then paused. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Nami scowled as an explosion sounded from beside Naruto.

"Whew," The new arrival had a scar under his eye and a smile a mile wide. "Finally landed."

"Er… Hello?" Naruto tried.

"Hi," The new arrival looked at him then looked around. "What happened to them?" He nodded to the dead pirates.

"They had an accident," Naruto responded. "Where did you come from?"

"The sky," The boy nodded.

"You were quiet skilled," Nami grinned. "Why don't we work together?"

"Work together?" Naruto blinked, "What do you do?"

"I am a thief who only steals from pirates." Nami declared proudly.

"Not interested," Naruto smiled. "You seem like a nice person but I can't really go along with that."

"Yeah me either," The boy shook his head.

"Who even asked you?" Nami snapped at the new arrival.

"Hey, I know that being turned down by me was devastating but don't take it out on…" Naruto turned to the new arrival.

"Monkey D Luffy," Luffy introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. The name's Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto and Luffy shook hands.

"Do you want to join my crew?" Luffy grinned. "I can tell you're strong."

"Thanks for the offer but I'll have to turn you down as well." Naruto grinned. "I'm going to be a captain myself."

"Awesome!" Luffy beamed and the two started walking into the town.

"Hey… wait up a second!" Nami ran after him.

* * *

While searching the town, Hinata couldn't help but wonder where all the people had gone. There were cafes and stores all empty. Some of them had been raided but others just looked as if everyone decided to leave them without stopping to pack. There was a clothes store that appeared full of clothes. Tenten opened the door and cautiously entered.

"Hey, anybody here?" Tenten called out waiting for a response that didn't come.

"Maybe it is outside of office hours," Hinata suggested.

"For the entire town?" Tenten shook her head, "It's barely 2 O'clock." She scowled as she looked around. "Well I guess this makes it easier to steal them."

"I feel kind of bad…" Hinata scowled.

"I'll bet you could find something that would get Naruto's attention in here."

"I can live with the guilt." Hinata started to go through the clothes.

"Hey Hinata-sama," Tenten stood watching Hinata.

"Please… just call me Hinata." Hinata smiled at her friend. "I think you've at least earned that right."

"Thanks," Tenten smiled, "I was just wondering… Why are you so interested in the Captain?"

"Ano…" Hinata started twiddling her thumbs. "Well he is kind and cheerful and brave."

"I see." Tenten stared at something in the distance. "I can't deny that…"

"_I consider it a privilege to have you on my crew" _Tenten recalled Naruto's words and smiled.

"Yes… he is the first man who was ever so nice to me…" Hinata hugged herself.

"Ah…" Tenten scowled, "I don't wish to lecture you Hinata but you shouldn't idolise a guy just because he's the first person to be nice to you. And because he is similar to a character out of your favourite novel series."

"Ah… you know about the books…" Hinata blushed crimson. "I'm such a perverted person… Naruto probably hates perverts like me."

"Somehow I don't think he would really care. If you are a member of his crew he will look after you."

"You think so?" Hinata looked up hopefully.

"Yes… didn't you hear what he said?" Tenten scowled and mimicked Naruto's 'hero' stance. "Don't bad mouth a member of my crew!" She did in a passable Naruto impression, earning a laugh from Hinata. "He really is something else." Tenten grinned. "I didn't even see him move."

"Ano…" Hinata started twiddling her fingers. "I understand why you asked me my feelings on him."

"You understand," Tenten was relieved. Naruto was nice but Hinata shouldn't go after the first person that was nice to her.

"You are also interested in Naruto." Hinata looked at her long-time friend.

"Wait what?" Tenten blinked.

"I can see by the look in your eyes when you talk about him." Hinata admitted sadly. "I can understand why you wouldn't want anyone else to have him… he is a really wonderful figure of a man."

"Well… I guess he is kind of handsome," Tenten admitted. "But I don't love him. I guess I respect him a bit but that's all."

"I was thinking that we leave his service," Hinata picked up some clothes and headed to the changing rooms.

"Eh?" Tenten blinked. "Why would you want to leave his service?"

"Why should we stay?" Hinata asked from the changing rooms. "If you really think I shouldn't be with him wouldn't this be for the best. Neji will be chasing Naruto so when he leaves we should be safe from being discovered if we are careful."

"I guess…" Tenten's shoulders sagged. A certain blonde's infectious grin was on her mind.

"Hmm…" Hinata's face poked out of the curtains with a smile. "Why are you so down about that?"

"I…" Tenten blinked before chuckling. "While I won't say I love him… he makes life interesting."

"That'll do for a start." Hinata smiled before stepping out of the changing room. She was wearing a black tank top with an orange cartoony Jolly Roger symbol over the top of an orange shirt. Her black cargo pants had orange linings. "What do you think? I am in the crew's colours now right?"

"Yeah…" Tenten grinned as she walked over to the counter and grabbed some orange dye before applying it to her HMS jacket. She swapped out her trousers for a pair of black shorts with orange lining and more pockets to hide throwing daggers. With a grin she tore the Hyuuga symbol off of her uniform. "No turning back now."

"Yeah… Foxhounds for life!" Hinata made the peace sign.

"Foxhounds?" Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"Well… Naruto kind of has whiskers and a foxy smile so I kind of thought…" Hinata started twiddling her fingers.

"Hah, you're right." Tenten chuckled.

"Oh and by the way…" Hinata smiled softly at Tenten. "I'd be up for sharing."

"Gah!" Tenten blushed red and spluttered as Hinata softly giggled. "Those books were a bad influence on you!"

"Maybe you should try them sometimes." Hinata laughed at Tenten's spluttered response.

While she fought off the blush that Hinata's suggestion had brought to her face, she couldn't help but smile. This was a side of Hinata that no one else got to see… except possibly a certain blonde in the future.

"Oh well," Tenten muttered as she stole a few more items of clothing, "There are worse people to fall for…" Tenten paused. "Not that I have… I was speaking about Hinata." Another pause. "I'll bet that sounded really Tsundere." She chuckled.

* * *

Tayuya scowled as Mikoto searched the store they were in. The whole place looked like a ghost town and for the most part there was no sign of any fighting. It was eerily quiet.

"What I don't get is where the fuck is everyone?"

"Swearing isn't cool Tayuya-chan."

"I aint nobody's 'Chan'," Tayuya snapped.

"See it really is your catchphrase," Mikoto laughed gently. "And to answer your question I don't know." Mikoto frowned. "Those pirates we fought were weak and a town of this size should have no problem dealing with them. Something else must have caused them to leave."

"Or they decided not to fight," Tayuya remarked, "Some people just don't fight back. They just accept the shitty life they are given and don't try to change anything. They are the smart people." Tayuya remarked quietly.

"Oh what makes you say that?" Mikoto asked.

"It's nothing," Tayuya shook her head.

"It sounds like a lot more than nothing," Mikoto pressed. "Maybe talking about it would make you feel better."

"My mother was a nice woman," Tayuya spoke softly after what seemed like an eternity of silence. "I don't remember much about her but I do remember the day she died."

"I see," Mikoto beckoned for Tayuya to continue.

"When Orochimaru first came to our islands, he came as a liberator and we loved him. He drove away the corrupt marines. It wasn't until many months later we learned we had traded scum for a true demon. He performed all sorts of experiments on children. None of them survived but we did nothing. Then he came for me." Tayuya shivered. "My mom tried to fight. She was a civilian and she was cut down but even as she lay dying in her own blood she refused to give in! I remember the look in her eyes as they dragged me away. Do you know what her last words were? I'm sorry for failing you my daughter…" Tayuya's cheeks glistened with tears, "If she'd just have surrendered she'd have lived! The strong cannot be opposed by the weak! This is a fact of life! Yet she tried and it got her killed and the end result was I still ended up experimented on! She changed nothing!"

"Sometimes when someone you care about is in danger, you try and help them regardless of the risk to yourself. You don't think you just do." Mikoto spoke softly, "That is love."

"Then love can go get fucked," Tayuya growled. "The pain of losing my mother was greater than any pain Orochimaru inflicted on me. I don't love anyone anymore. Shit I barely even feel anything. I just bow to the strongest like a plant to the wind. That is the fate of fucking weaklings such as me. I do what I can to survive."

"And is that really living?" Mikoto asked. "Shutting yourself off to the world like that? Following people without a say?"

"Don't stick your nose into my fucking business." Tayuya growled as she stormed out of the shop.

"Maybe I pushed her too hard," Mikoto sighed softly and continued searching the general store for supplies. The girl my put up a tough act but she just wanted someone to protect her, to tell her everything is going to be alright. "All I can do is try and help her. It is up to her to open her heart."

Back with Naruto

"So let me get this straight," Naruto grinned as he ate an apple. They were sat in a house Nami had led them to in order to give Naruto a meal as a thank you for saving her. They were currently talking to Luffy. "You used yourself as an elastic band and fired yourself at a giant bird, which decided to kidnap you and separate you from your crew."

"That's right," Luffy nodded.

"Your crew must be worried," Nami tilted her head. _'This guy is insane. Using himself as an elastic band... no human could do that.' _

"Yeah Zoro is probably worried," Luffy agreed.

"Zoro? Nami blinked, "Your crew consists of one person?" _'Why does that name sound familiar?'_

"That's right," Luffy nodded seriously. "I'm still recruiting."

"Aahahaha!" Naruto laughed, "And you call yourself a captain. I have a crew of four people not including myself."

"THAT'S NOT MUCH BETTER YOU IDIOT!" Nami yelled at the two captains who were just laughing madly now.

"So is this your house," Luffy looked around.

"No… I don't even know who lives here." Nami admitted. "Everyone in this village is hiding out of town to avoid Buggy and his men."

"Buggy," Naruto cleaned out an ear with his finger and looked at it critically, "Never heard of him. He some sort of pirate captain?"

"A pirate captain called Nami," Luffy looked thoughtful, "Is he scary?"

"DON'T MIX MY NAME UP WITH BUGGY'S!" Nami yelled at Luffy.

"Wait… I thought you were Buggy." Naruto pointed at Luffy.

"I'm Buggy?" Luffy frowned, "Then are you Luffy?"

"I thought I was Naruto…" Naruto turned to Nami, "Are you Naruto?"

"YOU ARE BOTH IDIOTS!" Nami roared.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto clutched his sides. "You are too easy to wind up."

"Shishishishi," Luffy laughed.

"The hell was that?" Naruto turned to the younger male.

"That's my laugh." Luffy explained.

"OK… kind of a weird noise but whatever," Naruto shrugged it off and took another bite of the apple Nami had given him.

"Anyway," Nami cleared her throat. "Buggy has a love for cannons."

"Probably compensating for something," Naruto remarked.

"Apparently someone once made fun of his nose and he wiped out their entire village with a cannon. They say he has a strange power." Nami finished.

"Devil fruit probably," Naruto checked the dirt under his nails.

"Oh, I'm a rubber man," Luffy stretched his mouth to demonstrate.

"We know… you've already mentioned it," Nami sighed heavily_, _not paying any attention to the demonstation and humouring the obviously mentally unhinged boy.

"Why is this village so empty?" Luffy asked.

"HAVE YOU NOT LISTENED TO ANYTHING I'VE SAID?" Nami yelled somewhat hypocritically at Luffy who merely laughed.

"So are you robbing these empty houses then?" Naruto asked.

"Stealing from innocent people is despicable! I told you I steal from pirates!" Nami shook her head.

"Yes…" Naruto looked shifty, "Stealing from innocent people is bad and I would never condone my crew participating in such an action."

"THAT WOULDN'T FOOL ANYBODY!" Nami roared before rubbing her head, "Dealing with you two is so tiring."

"Shishishishi, you should calm down!" Luffy laughed.

Nami sighed before looking at the two pirate captains before her. "My goal is to earn a hundred million Belly so I can buy a certain village!"

"That's a lot of money," Naruto whistled.

"Don't worry I have a plan," Nami grinned and pulled a map out of one of her pockets, "This is a map to the Grand Line."

"While I do need that, I won't pay a hundred million for it, I'll give 100 Belly."

"It's not for sale."

"Fine… ill make it 200." Naruto bartered.

"IT'S NOT FOR SALE."

"One thousand," Luffy laughed.

"One thousand, three hundred," Naruto countered.

Nami rubbed her forehead and waited for the bidding war to stop, which it did eventually at 2,120 Belly, a free massage and a signed wanted poster of Naruto.

"It's not for sale," Nami muttered.

"Oh… then why didn't you stop me and Luffy from bidding?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, we got all excited for nothing," Luffy remarked.

"… I need a drink," Nami moaned before trying to continue her story. "I am going to steal treasure from Grand Line pirates. The pirates there are tough so I'll need strong back up. That's why I'm offering you a chance to earn a cut of the money."

"So… do you know how to navigate?" Luffy asked.

"Damn straight I do," Nami grinned. "I'd wager I'm the best damn navigator outside the HMS, maybe even in it as well."

"Well that's great!" Luffy declared, "I was headed to the Grand Line anyway."

"Me too," Naruto nodded.

"Then you can join my crew!" Luffy grinned. "Be the navigator of my pirate crew!"

"I'd make the same offer but I already have a navigator," Naruto sighed.

"You… you are both pirates?"

"Yeah," Luffy declared proudly.

"That's us," Naruto nodded.

"Forget we even met, I'll never team up with a pirate." Nami declared.

Naruto zoned out for a few seconds as Luffy started talking about his hat. He was brought back to the conversation when Nami yelled.

"The things I hate most in this world are pirates!" She yelled, "I only like money and oranges!"

"Damn straight!" Naruto nodded, "Orange is an awesome colour."

"Hey… be my navigator," Luffy asked again.

"Well I'll be seeing you around I guess," Naruto got up to leave. "I'll bet my crew is getting into all sorts of trouble without my expert guidance."

As he walked away he glanced over his shoulder and noticed Nami tying up Luffy.

"Huh," Naruto chuckled watching Luffy get dragged away. "Maybe I left that conversation a little too early. After a brief moment of deliberation, Naruto figured he might as well shadow them. "This could be interesting." He smiled, his original mission of finding someone who could get him a bigger ship forgotten.

* * *

Mikoto and Tayuya continued walking in awkward silence, which was made all the more painful due to the lack of people in the town. They passed a pet store and noticed a little dog sat guard.

"Well aren't you a cute little boy," Mikoto gushed as she scratched the dog's ear, causing it to kick its leg.

"What are you doing all alone boy?" Tayuya crouched down and looked at the dog who barked at her. "I wish I understood dogs."

"Imagine the stories they could tell us." Mikoto agreed as she handed the dog a small treat. "Even though the town is abandoned. This dog seems to guard this store. I wonder if it is a special place for him."

"He's stupid," Tayuya scowled. "He's been abandoned but he keeps on waiting on the hope that what he has lost returns."

"That's called faith and hope." Mikoto looked at her sadly. "I personally think it is heart-warming."

"Until the dog dies here alone." Tayuya muttered.

"You are really a downer you know." Tenten muttered as she and Hinata walked up to the others.

"Shut it Panda," Tayuya snapped. "You don't know me."

"Whatever," Tenten shook her head, "You two had any luck finding anybody?"

"Just this mutt," Tayuya muttered and walked away.

"What's up with her?" Tenten turned to Mikoto.

"She's had a hard life and I accidently got her to relive some memories she would rather have suppressed indefinitely." Mikoto bowed her head apologetically. "She'll be fine in a while she just needs some space right now."

"Excuse me," a new voice got the four women's attention. A man carrying three katana with green hair stood before them. "Do any of you know the way to Buggy?"

"Buggy?" Tenten tilted his head, "Never heard of him."

"I am sorry," Hinata bowed his head, "We have only just arrived here."

"I see…" The pirate sighed heavily. "Looks like I've lost my only lead on my captain."

There was an almighty bang and half of town seemed to explode.

"What the fuck?" Tayuya blinked.

"I have a feeling I know where my captain is," the swordsman grinned before heading to the source of the explosion.

"I hope Naruto wasn't caught in that…" Hinata looked to Tenten.

"Please, as if that idiot would die from something as minor as that," Tenten smirked.

"Well we should go and investigate," Mikoto smiled. "Maybe we could find a ship to claim."

"Yeah," Tayuya scowled. "The sooner we leave this shit hole the better."

"You can come but don't slow me down," The swordsman stated.

"SAY THAT WHEN YOU ARE HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION YOU STUPID FUCKER!" Tayuya yelled at the directionally challenged swordsman.

* * *

Naruto looked from his perch on top of a building at events unfolding. The pirates appeared to be drinking themselves stupid on the top of some sort of bar. As far as Naruto could tell from his position, Nami had handed Luffy to the group of pirates led by a clown. There seemed to be some sort of drama and the pirates pointed a cannon at the building he was on. There was a supersonic boom and Naruto blinked as the building he was stood on was completely obliterated. Fortunately Naruto's reflexes allowed him to leap off the building and crash through a window in the bar, landing in the middle of a group of drunken pirates.

"Hey there," Naruto brushed the glass off of his outfit. "How are you today?"

"Er…" The pirates looked at each other. "Not too bad, could do with more to drink I guess."

"Awesome," Naruto walked by them patting the one who spoke on the shoulder. "I found a liquor shop in the town. Looked like it hadn't been robbed yet."

"Seriously?" The pirates looked at each other uncertainly.

"Was all good stuff as well." Naruto replied.

The pirates looked at each other. "Well if there is booze then we should go get it."

"But we can't leave this place undefended." Another argued.

"Well I'll go get the booze then."

"Like hell you will, you'll steal the best stuff for yourself and bring back piss for the rest of us!"

"At least I'd bring you something back! If you went then you'd claim there was nothing there after clearing out the shop yourself!"

Naruto leaned against a wall and watched events unfolding. The pirates' argument was quickly devolving into a bar brawl. He quickly slipped out of the room and found stairs leading up to the roof. He arrived just in time to see another group of pirates and clown leader telling Nami to shoot the cannon at the caged Luffy.

"Guess you don't know how to use the cannon," One of the pirates wearing a jester's outfit took the lighter from Nami. While he was explaining how to use it Nami assembled a three part pole and smacked the pirate on the back of the head knocking him out.

"What the hell?" The clown pirate yelled at Nami, "I even gave you the honour of firing my Buggy Cannon!"

"Is that what you call it?" Naruto cleaned out his ear effectively gaining the attention of everyone.

"What?" Buggy turned to face the blonde newcomer.

"Well I've heard of giving your 'tool' a name but seriously 'Buggy Cannon?'" Naruto rolled his eyes.

"But it is a cannon and its mine," Buggy scowled.

"Oh I see," Naruto clapped his hands, "It has a short fuse that why you call it a cannon! It's messy and undignified!"

"Of course it has a short fuse, what's the point of a cannon with a long fuse?" Buggy scowled.

"So your partner can enjoy it more?" Naruto offered.

Nami found herself shaking with supressed laughter. In fact most of Buggy's crew were also trying not to laugh. The only straight faced people were Luffy (who had no idea what they were talking about), Buggy (Second verse same as the first) and Naruto, who took Improved Poker face as a feat. There was an awkward moment as the gears in Buggy's head turned slowly.

"AH!" Buggy realised what he'd been saying. "My cannon is not my giggle stick!"

This was too much for Nami and Naruto who both burst out laughing, Nami leaning against Luffy's cell for support whilst Naruto was rolling around on the floor.

"Giggle… stick… oh gods my ribs…" Naruto gasped with tears in his eyes.

"I can't… breathe," Nami choked between laughs.

"Ahahaha…" Naruto grin faded slightly. "Hey Nami."

"Yeah?" Nami wiped her eyes.

"Aren't you going to do something about that?" Naruto pointed to the lit fuse on the cannon.

"Crap!" Luffy started to chew on his cell, "I'm going to die!"

"Nobody mocks my giggle stick and gets away with it!" Buggy roared, "Men… kill them all!"

"The fuse!" Nami raced to the cannon but was intercepted by a small group.

"Missed us!" They taunted as they dodged her furious swipes.

Naruto raced towards the cannon, weaving in and out of the many pirates who tried to get in his way with a cat like grace, his blades flashing as the cut through the pirates like tissue paper. Despite his speed, the fuse would ignite the cannon far before Naruto could get to it at his current pace. However his ease of dispatching the pirates was drawing them away from Nami who took the opening to race towards the fuse and tried to put it out.

"Get her!" A group of pirates charged her from behind.

"Look out!" Naruto yelled as drew his pistols and brought down two of the pirates charging her, causing the rest to trip over their corpses, but still a wave charged over their fallen brothers until they found themselves being forced back by a green haired swordsman.

"Just how many of you are charging one girl?" He remarked.

"Zoro!" Luffy grinned.

"Are you OK?" Zoro asked Nami as he quickly despatched the massed pirates.

"Yeah… I'm fine thank you." Nami smiled weakly, the extinguished fuse in her hands.

"Is that Zoro the Pirate hunter?" Naruto overhead the conversation between the pirates. "We aren't being paid enough to deal with him!"

"Oh but I'm just small fry am I?" Naruto pouted slightly. "What's a guy got to do to get a good bounty?" He muttered whilst reloading his pistols, "I mean seriously I go through these guys like butter and not as much as an 'Oh no, this guy's good!'"

"Is this your idea of fun?" Zoro asked Luffy who merely laughed in response.

"I mean I try my best to be a good pirate," Naruto continued muttering as Zoro and Buggy started squaring off. "I mean I look like a pirate right? But am I missing something?"

"A ship? A full crew?" Nami grinned as Naruto flinched. _'Revenge for the headache talking to him earlier gave me!' _

"Huh?" Naruto looked over to see Buggy cut into pieces. "Seriously? That guy has a better rep than me? He didn't even have his death scene described!"

"He was really weak," Luffy agreed.

"Why are they all laughing?" Nami wondered aloud.

"Isn't it obvious?" Naruto grinned. "They have been liberated from their evil captain and are now happy about being free to join my crew!"

There was a cry of pain and Zoro staggered forwards, one of the sliced limbs sticking a knife in him.

"Holy hell…" Naruto blinked. "He's…"

"A devil fruit user!" Nami blinked, "I thought they were a myth!"

"I'm a rubber man," Luffy told her. "I thought I told you that."

"You did but I thought you were joking. And you?" Nami turned to the blonde.

"Me? I'm just awesome," Naruto grinned. "Unlike that big nose over there, relying on a cheap ass power up."

"You're jealous of the cheap ass power up aren't you?" Nami asked.

"… Unbelievably so. Freaking devil fruits." Naruto sighed.

"What did you call me?" The now reassembled Buggy looked at Naruto.

"What?" Naruto blinked. "A Big nose?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BIG NOSE?" Buggy cut off an arm and threw it at Naruto who snatched it out of mid-air with little difficulty.

"Is that the limit of your power?" Naruto grinned until there was a sickening pain in his ribs. "Oh… so you can split your body parts without cutting them off huh?" He pondered as he looked at the hand that had broken away from the rest of the arm he was holding. "That hurts like a bitch."

"Shouldn't you be more concerned?" Nami asked as the limbs returned to Buggy.

"Meh," Naruto shrugged as he stemmed the bleeding. "It's only a flesh wound and if that's all he can do then I'm not worried."

"That's awfully close to your heart." Nami warned.

"Oh…" Naruto looked at the wound. "Hmm you are right."

"BE MORE CONCERNED DAMN IT!" Nami yelled.

"Aw," Naruto grinned, "There's no need to worry about me. I just need a good nap and I'll be right as rain."

"YOU CAN'T JUST SLEEP OFF A STAB WOUND!" Nami roared, feeling a headache coming on again.

"I can't?" Naruto scowled. "Next you'll be telling me I can grow limbs back!"

"You can't!" Nami face palmed.

"But lizards do!" Naruto countered. "And I've been bitten by a red active lizard so that means I have lizard super powers!"

"I… I don't even know where to begin with that," Nami threw her hands up in the air. "First that would have to be a radioactive lizard not a red active one (What the hell is one of those anyway?) and two you'd die from radiation poisoning!"

"Oh," Naruto scowled. "Well that's strange." He mused. "Oh and its a red coloured lizard that has been fed high energy treats until it is racing around really quickly."

A sudden scream got Naruto and Nami's attention as it seemed Zoro had turned the cannon on the Buggy Pirates.

"Uh oh," Naruto blinked. "Abandon pub!" He yelled as he grabbed Nami and jumped off of the side of the bar, swinging down a rope used to life things onto the top of the bar.

The pub suddenly erupted into flames and Naruto saw Zoro leap away from the pirates and run across the roof hauling Luffy's cage. He followed the still carrying Nami and ran by his crew, offering a smile and a wave.

"Heyguysivebeenstabbednoneedtoworryilllivegoingtokillasectionedclownbye!" Naruto called out as he went by them.

"Huh," Tenten blinked, "Anyone catch a word of that?"

"Was it me or was shithead bleeding from his chest?" Tayuya scowled.

"Who the hell was that orange haired hussy?" Hinata asked darkly.

The other crew members looked at the dark aura that she was generating.

"Shouldn't we go and check on him?" Mikoto asked.

"Shithead will be fine," Tayuya shrugged. "I'm going to find something to eat."

"Hey we need to get you into crew colours!" Tenten grinned as she and Hinata dragged Tayuya away, despite her protests.

"Oh my," Mikoto sighed and chased after her useless captain. "I suppose it's my duty as his big sister to help him..."

_Mikoto smiled as she tended to Naruto's injury._

_"Thanks Mikoto," he blushed slightly, "Can I ask a favour?" _

_"Of course you can." _

_"Can I call you... Onee-sama?"_

_"I would be honoured Naruto-kun."_

_"Onee-Sama," Naruto hugged her._

_"My precious Naruto," she returned the hug and ruffled his hair._

_"I love you Mikoto-nee." Naruto looked up eyes full of admiration._

Mikoto's daydream was abruptly ended when she walked into a lamppost. She rubbed her nose and found it had been bleeding.

'_Strange,' _Mikoto thought to herself, '_I didn't hit my nose that hard.'_

* * *

The Intrepid sailed into the docks, gliding softly to a halt. The frigate's crew ran around preparing to make landing. At the end of the deck, four figures stood watching the hive of activity.

"So this is Orange town!" Lee proclaimed loudly. He noticed the three corpses left on the dock. "This is a most unyouthful place..."

"Never let your flames dampen!" The captain if the ship wore his captains HMS jacket over his shoulders, revealing the white and green track suit he wore underneath. He was a tall man and looked very much like an old Lee. This man was Maito Gai, one of the most skilled captains of the HMS fleet.

"Yosh!" Lee proclaimed. "My youthful fires shall brighten this town!"

"Are you planning to burn this town to the ground?" The third member was a tall lanky man. A bandana covered his head and forced his fringe over his left eye and his mouth was covered by a cloth mask. His outfit was pretty much the standard Hyuuga outfit. This man was the First Mate of the Intrepid, Hakate Kakashi and from what little of his face you could see, made it quite clear he didn't want to be here.

"Smoke out the target?" Shikamaru mused. "Could be worth a shot."

"And risk the lives of innocents?" Gai looked horrified.

"This place looks lawless," Shikamaru nodded at the corpses. "It is probably a pirate haven."

"Then we should capture it!" Lee proclaimed, "It shall be a bastion of Youth!"

"With what army?" Shikamaru sighed. "We barely have 200 men with us and most are only trained in naval warfare. Besides our mission is to save Hinata-Sama."

"But how can we do nothing and allow such unyouthful activities to continue?" Lee asked looking devastated. So much so that Shikamaru felt obliged to try and cheer him up.

"While we cannot invade the town, whilst we are here if we come across any unyouthful activities that you dislike then I guess I can't stop you from showing them the error of their ways." Shikamaru flinched as Lee suddenly glowed with a youthful aura.

"Could it be?" One crew member muttered.

"It can't be…" Another ventured.

"The Legendary super Youth!" Gai declared pointing a finger to the sky.

"ORAAAAA!" Lee roared as he leapt from the boat surrounded by a glowing green energy which made his eyebrows larger.

"Yeah…" Kakashi sighed as the super charged Lee raced towards the town, "That happened."

"And now I have to chase after him," Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Me and my big mouth."

Story End

* * *

Profiles

**Name**: Maito 'Mighty Guy' Gai  
**Age**: 35 Gender: Male  
**Crimes: ** Warping reality in such a way that summoning Cthulhu would probably be less damaging to those that witness it. Seriously the Old Ones aint got shit on Maito Gai for driving people crazy.  
**Appearance:** Wears the standard HMS coat as a cloak revealing his skin tight white training suit. Did I mention he likes to go commando. Yeah you thought you'd finally recovered from the Lee image then wham! Gai Time.  
**Fighting Style**: When he punches things they stay punched.  
**Personality:** I would describe it but I have exceeded the number of times a human being can mention youth or youthfulness without being hunted down by… oh crap I said it again…  
**Guilty Pleasure:** A mankini… Gai owns one and loves to wear it at the beach.

**Name**: Kakashi 'the Calamity' Hakate  
**Age**: 31 **Gender**: Male  
**Crimes: **Failure to acknowledge a superior officer. Reading of inappropriate materials in front of a superior officer, acting cool and hip in front of a superior officer(All charges overturned on account of the superior officer being Gai)  
**Appearance:** Standard HMS outfit with a bandanna forcing his hair down over his left eye. Wears a face mask.  
**Fighting Style**: Unknown  
**Personality:** Laid back and calm. Really regrets his decision to join the HMS and is reluctant to help them. Was once a USS member but didn't much like it there either.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Reading trashy vampire romance novels. Pretends to be reading porn instead as that is socially more acceptable.


	4. Chapter 4: Enter the Scarecrow

Naruto: Ninja Pirate

A/N: Well this story seems to be getting quite a few followers and favourites. I'm glad people out there are liking the story so far. This chapter has actually been ready for a while but I keep going through it and changing little things. I am uploading this now otherwise it just will never get uploaded. This is also officially the longest chapter I have ever written so… there is that. Here's hoping you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto or One Piece I would probably be a lot happier and richer.

Story Start

Chapter 4: Enter the Scarecrow

Naruto (still carrying Nami bridal style) ran towards the collapsed Zoro and still caged Luffy, who was currently being attacked by a small dog, who appeared to be winning the fight.

"I have a feeling that I missed something," Naruto remarked as he put down the blushing Nami, who hit him over the head.

"Give me some kind of a warning before you do something like that!" Nami brushed herself off, "I nearly had a heart attack when you dived off that building."

"Ah, my bad," Naruto grinned sheepishly as he rubbed his head. "I just reacted. I couldn't allow any harm to befall a pretty lady such as yourself."

"Ah well," Nami suddenly found the floor very interesting, "I guess I can overlook it this time." She turned to the two straw hat pirates, "And what are you doing laid in the middle of the street. Anyone could find you here."

"Yeah, you suck at hiding." Naruto agreed.

"Hey it's our navigator!" Luffy waved.

"SAYS WHO?"

"You've joined his crew," Naruto looked crestfallen, "I thought we had something special."

"I HAVEN'T JOINED HIS CREW DAMNIT!" Nami yelled. "AND WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING GOING ON!"

"Ahahahaha," Naruto laughed as Nami face palmed.

"I'm just here to repay my debt," Nami proclaimed and threw a key towards the cage.

"When did you steal that?" Naruto blinked.

"I'm a thief who steals from pirates," Nami grinned, "If a pirate could catch me stealing I wouldn't be a very good one."

"That's cool," Naruto grinned. "Hey… where's my wallet?" Naruto started to pat his pockets.

"You didn't have one," Nami retorted, "I know I checked while you were carrying me."

"You are a sneaky, skilled woman…I think I'm in love," Naruto remarked as he grabbed Nami's hand.

"S..Shut up!" Nami pulled her hand away blushing crazily.

"AAH!" Luffy and Zoro yelled, "The dog ate the key!"

"Huh?" Nami and Naruto turned to face the two pirates. Luffy was strangling the poor dog.

"Hey! Animal cruelty is not cool!" Naruto remarked. "I'm calling the RSPCA on your arse!"

"RSPCA?" The other pirates looked at him.

"Well them or Dog's Trust," Naruto remarked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Nami asked.

"Don't do anything to Shushu!" An old man wearing armour and carrying a spear yelled.

"Who are you mister?" Zoro turned to the old man.

"Damn the Dog's Trust have upped their game," Naruto remarked.

"I'm the village leader," The old man declared, "Boodle."

"Village leader of who exactly?" Naruto pointed to the empty town.

"The villagers are all in hiding," Boodle explained. "But let me help your wounded friend."

"The townspeople are in hiding?" Naruto looked thoughtful, "I wish someone had told me that earlier."

"I will kill you slowly and painfully," Nami growled as the blonde merely laughed as Boodle carried Zoro away and returned.

"How's Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"He's fine, he said he would just sleep off his stab wound, even though that is such a severe wound." Boodle scowled.

"Ha! I can heal without sleeping, see Nami, you should stick with me!" Naruto grinned at Nami.

"Oh really…" Nami poked him in the stab wound only to find it fully healed. "Wait… How did that happen?!"

"Like I told you, I got super healing from eating a red active lizard!"

"I thought it bit you!" Nami responded.

"Ahahahaha…" Naruto laughed and rubbed his head. "Did I say that?"

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE A BACK STORY TO EXPLAIN YOUR POWERS AT LEAST KEEP IT CONSISTENT!" Nami yelled.

"So the dog is called Shushu?" Luffy asked Boodle oblivious to his 'navigator' trying to strange a certain blonde haired pirate.

"Yeah," Boodle nodded. "He guards the store, I am just here to feed him."

While Boodle explained the story of the owner of the store and the dog. Naruto found himself distracted by the arrival of his newest crew member.

"Naruto-kun," Mikoto smiled as she ran up to him.

"What's a matter?" Naruto noted the worried look on her face.

"I saw you were injured," Mikoto touched the damaged chest piece. "But you seem to be fine…"

"Yeah I heal fast," Naruto waved her off dismissively.

"Devil fruit power?" Mikoto asked.

"Nope," Naruto grinned. "I was dropped in a vat of radioactive lizard entrails and that gave me super regeneration powers."

"GOD DAMN IT!" Nami yelled. "BE CONSISTENT DAMN IT!"

"I see," Mikoto double checked the wound before deciding she would chase it up later. "What is happening here?"

"Well you see…" Naruto started to explain before a deafening roar cut him off.

"Run away!" Boodle yelled whilst Luffy tried to convince the dog to spit out the key. Nami needed no more warning and high tailed it down the street, Naruto and Mikoto in hot pursuit.

"What about me?" Luffy yelled after them.

* * *

"Target sighted," Tenten grinned as she and the other girls crouched behind some barrels in the docks area. She was looking through a spy glass at the recent arrival to the dock area, counting the number of guards and what they were carrying.

"That looks impressive," Tayuya admitted. After they had dragged her off to change her attire (she now wore a black leather corset over a white puffy shirt. She wore a black loose fitting trousers with an orange grinning skull on the left thigh. A black admiral's hat now sat upon her red hair) the girls had decided to find a ship, seeing as their captain apparently had gotten side-tracked.

"The HMS Intrepid," Hinata looked uncomfortable, "Why is the fastest ship in the HMS fleet at dock here?"

"Probably looking for us," Tenten admitted. "You are the Heiress of the Hyuuga after all. They probably sent some special cadets after us." Noticing the fear on Hinata's face Tenten squeezed her arm, "Don't worry. I can't see anyone other than the captain Maito Gai and he has the crew running drills.

"Even so," Hinata whispered. "He is a powerful adversary."

"We need to get everyone off the ship," Tayuya remarked. "We don't need to fight them if we can get them away from the ship."

"Hmm…" Tenten rubbed her temples, "We need to think of a cunning plan. Can you put them to sleep?"

"Too noisy," Tayuya admitted. "That man's loud bellowing would ruin my sleep spell."

"Do you actually have any uses?" Tenten sighed.

"I'm more useful than you panda bitch!" Tayuya snapped.

"In what way?" Tenten smirked and pulled out a knife. "I'm a better fighter than you and I perfectly fine when doused in sea water."

"I…" Tayuya scowled. "I can carry out stealthy activities and once I fully master my fruit powers you will be barely worth my notice!"

"That's funny because you are barely worth my attention right now," Tenten turned her back to Tayuya.

"I'll kill you panda bitch," Tayuya growled.

"Ano…" Hinata flinched as the two girls looked at her. "I think Tayuya has good potential for growth and I think that you are both going to be very powerful later on… but I don't have much combat potential." She looked so down that the two other girls lost the appetite to fight each other. Even the sullen Tayuya felt the need to try and cheer her up. "I don't want to be a burden to the captain and you girls."

"Well…" Tenten glanced at Tayuya who shrugged. "If you want I can teach you how to fight."

"I guess I know a few pirate tricks I could teach you," Tayuya scowled.

"Thank you," Hinata smiled sweetly at Tayuya and Tenten causing them to smile slightly and return their attention to the ship.

"So… do we have any ideas?" Tenten asked.

"Hmm… They appear to be loading barrels onto the ship." Tayuya pointed to a group of cadets moving some cargo.

"And?" Tenten watched them through her spy glass.

"And I have a plan," Tayuya grinned. "We get on board by pretending to be cargo."

"And then what?" Tenten asked.

"We kill everyone on board!" Tayuya declared.

"You do realise that these guys aren't marines." Tenten pointed out. "The HMS don't just give you a uniform and a gun. They make you learn how to use them to their best. A squad of HMS or even USS cadets could take on a group of three times their number of marines. And I count about a hundred cadets milling around. Gods alone knows how many are out of sight on the lower decks."

"And it's too noisy to use your devil fruit powers," Hinata added.

"Yeah," Tayuya admitted. "Okay, any other plans?"

"If they are looking for me, maybe I could lure them over here and then we could steal their uniforms," Hinata offered.

"One, I'm not letting you get into danger," Tenten shook her head, "Two, even if we succeeded, you'd be recognised on sight even if you were wearing a uniform and we would still find ourselves on a hostile ship outnumbered. But it was a good idea," Tenten added quickly noting Hinata's disappointment.

"So what we need to do is lure them off the ship right?" Tayuya rubbed her chin. "And they want to capture Hinata… how about we use her to lure them off the ship then the other two take the ship out of the dock, then you can return and get your lesbian lover panda bitch."

"We are not using Hinata as bait," Tenten shook her head. "Besides they would maybe send a squad of ten cadets to follow her, still leaving us with ninety plus to deal with."

"How good are you at throwing?" Tayuya asked.

"I'm the best," Tenten smirked.

"So you could snipe the captain from here?" Tayuya asked.

"Er…" Tenten's confidence faltered, "I doubt that a legendary captain can be brought down by such a simple attack.

"I thought you said you were a good fighter," Tayuya grinned.

"Better than you at least," Tenten shot back.

"Ano…" Hinata interrupted their fight, "I think I have an idea… Mr Gai is really big on youth right?"

"Er… yeah." Tenten nodded.

"The fuck does that mean? Is he some sort of paedophile or something?" Tayuya shivered.

"No… it means he is…" Tenten glanced at Hinata.

"A strange person?" Hinata offered.

"Yeah, that'll do." Tenten nodded. "So what was your plan?"

"If we can make him think his crew is unyouthful maybe we can get him to make his entire crew on a youthful run?" Hinata offered.

"I doubt he really is as bad as they say," Tenten smiled. "But that was one of the better plans we've had so far."

"How about…" Tayuya and Tenten's continued to plan as Hinata watched the ship. "Er… guys?"

"What is it Hinata?" Tenten turned to her friend.

"You're not going to believe this…"

* * *

Shikamaru scowled as he and Lee walked through the empty town, flanked by a small squad of ten cadets.

"No one appears to be here," Lee reported.

"Hmm…" Shikamaru scowled. "We haven't even found any of the pirates."

"Hey you!" A small band of pirates strolled out of one of the stores.

"Looks like they were robbing a liquor store," Shikamaru noted.

"Sir, what should we do?" One of the Hyuuga cadets asked.

"Well…" Shikamaru scratched his chin. "They shouldn't be a challenge but we do need to find out if Hinata has been here or not. Try to take someone alive."

"Sir!" The cadets all lined up in a standard firing line up. "Surrender pirate scum!"

"Oh look at these show offs boys." One of pirates laughed as he took a swig of rum. "A group of pretty boy soldiers. Shall we show them how to actually fight?" His colleges gave a roar of approval.

"Remember," Shikamaru pointed out, "We want to take at least as one alive."

"Yosh," Lee cracked his knuckles. "I will show them their error of their unyouthful ways!"

What happened next was over before the pirates even had time to realise they were in trouble. The HMS cadets launched a volley of rifle fire that tore straight through the majority of the drunken pirates. Those few who were lucky enough to survive the initial barrage found themselves dealing with a furious fist onslaught from Lee. The whole incident was over in a matter of seconds.

"Yosh!" Lee grinned, "Our youth has prevailed!"

"And are there any survivors?" Shikamaru asked.

"Er…" Lee looked sheepish. "I held back as much as I could but my flames of youth were still too much for them."

"Great," Shikamaru walked over to the corpses and checked them. All of them had clown themed outfits and carried a variety of pirate standard weaponry, which is to say that it was all poor quality. "I don't suppose you have anything to say?" Shikamaru asked one of the corpses. "Didn't think so... How troublesome."

"What's the plan now?" Lee asked.

"We keep looking," Shikamaru sighed.

"Maybe we can ask these people!" Lee exclaimed pointing to a group running towards them.

"Excuse me," Shikamaru stood in the way of the group only to be bowled over when they didn't stop.

"Move bitch! Get out the way!" Naruto yelled as he ran over Shikamaru.

"There's a wild tiger!" Nami warned as she trampled over the fallen genius.

"I'm just following them," Mikoto added as she ran over the twitching pile that was Shikamaru.

There was an awkward silence as the HMS cadets milled around uncertainly.

"You could chase after them you know," Shikamaru groaned as Lee helped him to stand.

"Yes sir!" The cadets saluted with perfect precision then started chasing after the fleeing pirates.

"And try to take them alive this time!" Shikamaru called after them.

* * *

"So…" Naruto glanced around as the fleeing trio paused to catch their breath, "What were we running from?"

"Didn't you hear that roar?" Nami panted. "I wasn't going to stay and get eaten!"

"I would never allow any harm to befall you." Naruto smiled warmly. "Not considering our special relationship."

"WHAT SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP?" Nami roared.

"Nami yelled at me," Naruto curled up in a corner.

"There, there." Mikoto hugged him, "Let Onee-Sama make it all better."

"Stop!" A group of ten HMS cadets called out as they took up firing positions.

"Hammer time!" Naruto responded before running towards them, Mikoto close behind.

"First rank fire!" The cadets unleashed a volley of shots, expecting the two charging pirates to be brought down. Instead Naruto leapt onto the side of a building and continued running, disregarding unimportant things such as gravity. Mikoto simply seemed to dance through the bullets, dodging them with a minimal amount of effort.

Nami dived to the floor and prayed that the blonde idiot wouldn't die but in the event he did, she hoped he would distract the HMS long enough for her to escape.

"Second rank fire!"

Naruto leapt off if the wall as gun fire chipped away at where he would have been positioned. He span through the air, swords drawn and was about to hit the group of cadets when he was blindsided by a kick that sent him hurtling through a window of a house.

"Yosh!" Lee grinned. "So long as I stand, no harm shall befall my comrades."

"Son of a bitch!" Naruto cursed as he pulled himself out of the house, pulling shards of glass from his arms. "Sweet mother of all things holy!" He pointed at Lee's eyebrows, "They're eating your face!"

"What?" Lee paused and tried to see what the blonde pirate was pointing at only to instinctively dodge a lightning flash sword slash courtesy of Mikoto.

"I do not appreciate you manhandling my cute little nii-chan." Mikoto's katana was sheathed with an audible click, which caused Lee's fringe to flutter to the fall.

"No... My youthful hair..." Lee coughed blood and collapsed on the floor.

"Sir!" The cadets picked him up and retreated leaving a dust cloud along with two bewildered pirates and a thief that only steals from pirates.

"I could have taken him," Naruto grimaced as he pulled the last piece of glass out of his back. "He got lucky."

"Of course he did," Mikoto smiled, "Now come let Onee-Sama patch you up."

"I'm fine," Naruto turned to Nami. "How about you?"

"Been better," Nami admitted. "Glad to see you're alive."

"Aww," Naruto grinned. "I knew you really loved me!"

"STOP JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS!" Nami roared.

"Ahahahaha!" Naruto laughed merrily until something stung his cheek, "Is this mutiny?!" Naruto leapt away from Mikoto who was holding some cotton wool dripping with disinfectant.

"Now be a big boy and stay still." Mikoto chided. "We don't want those cuts to get infected!"

"I heal fast," Naruto declared. "Ever since I was raised by a guy with adamantium over his skeleton I have had super regeneration."

"I give in," Nami didn't even bother to point out the lack of consistency.

"Aww it's no fun if you do to react," Naruto tilted his head.

"YOU WERE DOING IT ON PURPOSE?!" Nami face palmed as Naruto laughed happily. "I hate you so much."

"Well you know what they say!" Naruto grinned, "There is a fine line between love and argh!" Naruto flinched away from Mikoto. "Stay back she-demon!"

"Stop being such a baby," Mikoto advanced towards Naruto.

"If you clean me my unholy regeneration granted to me by Nurgle will be stripped!"

"I don't even care anymore." Nami turned away and headed back towards where they had abandoned Luffy. "I think being eaten alive would be less painful than staying near you."

"Your words wound me!" Naruto called out as he dodged Mikoto.

"Stay still and let me nurse you damn it!" Mikoto snapped as a towering black demon appeared behind her.

Naruto froze. "Yes Onee-Sama." He said meekly only to watch in amusement as Mikoto was propelled backwards with an epic Nose bleed, destroying the strange demon and knocking herself out.

* * *

Tenten couldn't believe their luck. Just as they were beginning to accept that there was no way that they could steal the ship, the entire crew decided to go for a light jog. What were the odds?

"What is going on?" Tayuya scowled, "Who'd leave a ship unmanned in hostile waters?"

"It has to be a trap," Tenten turned to her friend.

"I see the energy signatures of twelve cadets remaining." Hinata whispered.

"You can what?" Tayuya scowled.

"It's Hinata's unique ability. The Hyuuga can 'see' changes in weather and also foresee what other ships are going to do. It's why they are amazing navigators. Hinata has an advanced form of the sight, she can perceive the natural energies of people and animals." Tenten smiled fondly at Hinata. "It's how our escape from the HMS prison ship went do smoothly."

"I see..." Tayuya scowled.

"Yeah Hinata is awesome," Tenten smirked as Hinata blushed crimson.

"Get a fucking room," Tayuya grunted.

"So we attack?" Hinata asked.

"Can we take them?" Tayuya looked at Tenten, "Or is twelve still too many panda bitch?"

"You stay here," Tenten smirked at Tayuya. "It might be too loud for you to help me."

"Fuck you!" Tayuya growled. "What are you going to do all alone?"

Tenten merely drew a knife and dived into the water, swimming beneath the waves on approach to the boat. Staying fully submerged until she reached the side of the boat. _'I'll show that bitch the power of someone approved as a Hyuuga Special Cadet!' _

"So... What are you planning to do when we get back to the fleet?" One of the cadet's voice rang out as she slowly climbed the side of the ship.

"Transfer to a less psychotic captain." Came a tired response. "I mean who really orders most if the crew onto land for a youthful jog?"

"If not for Kakashi we'd all be going on that jog."

Tenten scowled as she listened to the banter. If this Kakashi they were talking about was the Kakashi Hakate there would be problems. Using the knife she checked the deck for cadets and found a small group of three sat on crates talking. There were two patrolling the deck.

"It's show time," Tenten muttered as the patrol got closer to her. As they passed she pulled herself over the ledge and brought the first guard down with a clinical slash. As he fell gurgling the other pirate opened his mouth to yell but Tenten quickly silenced him with a brutal thrust of a knife in his throat. Glancing around Tenten made sure the other cadets were unaware of their comrades' deaths and threw the two bodies overboard.

"What was that?" One of the cadets looked up at the splashing noise. "Hey! Who are you?"

"Er… Hi?" Tenten smiled as the three cadets pointed their weapons at her, before quickly diving to the side as they opened fire, which of course drew the attention of the other cadets on the lower deck. "This… did not go as I had imagined."

"Surrender and you will be treated fairly." One of the cadets ordered as Tenten kept her head down behind some of the cargo that littered the deck.

She mentally calculated the positions of her aggressors. If the ten remaining cadets were outside then three had already fired and would be reloading. Listening fiercely, Tenten tried to place the cadets. She could tell that two groups of two were trying to box her and the remaining six were in a central group where Tenten assumed the reloading cadets were. She took a deep breath and pulled out ten knives from her bandolier and took a deep breath. It was as if everyone around her suddenly started moving in slow motion. Opening her eyes, Tenten was ready. As she rose over the top of the crates, she saw the main group of six start to raise their rifles and she flung six knives that flew through the air gracefully. Leaping off of the crates and rolling in the air, Tenten faced the other four cadets, taking them by surprise throwing the remaining four knives at the four targets. It was then time chose to reassert itself.

The group of six died as the blades struck them in the throat, their shots missing Tenten by the narrowest of margins. The other four cadets took the knives to the back of their necks, severing their spinal cords causing them to fall like puppets with the strings cut. To the naked eye it was as if all ten suddenly died all at the same time.

Unfortunately Tenten had calculated everything perfectly except her landing. She crashed into a pile of crates with an ungraceful thud. While activating what she called her hyper sense (because Bullet time is trademarked) allowed her to pull of moves beyond human. The pain in her muscles and head as her body realised it wasn't supposed to be pushed to those limits meant such a course of action was only to be used in the most dire of situations.

"You alright panda bitch?" Tayuya smirked as she stepped into Tenten's view. "I gotta admit. You were actually pretty impressive. Guess love for your lesbian plaything made gave you strength huh?"

"If I wasn't in so much pain I would kill you…" Tenten groaned.

"Well we have a ship," Tayuya paused uncertainly. "What now?"

"I'll pull it out of the docks, but I'll need your help," Hinata walked up to the ships wheel. "I can't see anyone else on the lower decks so we should be okay."

"Right," Tayuya started unveiling the sails.

"Er…. Help please?" Tenten called out weakly from the broken crates filled with shackles of some sort.

"Why of course," Tayuya grinned evilly as she yanked Tenten to her feet, who cringed in pain.

"Ouch…" Tenten hobbled to the other side of the deck and helped release the sails.

"So… we got a ship," Tayuya looked up at Hinata. "Guess that means you are taking me home."

"Home?" Hinata looked confused. "But a pirate's ship is there home!"

"And this aint my ship." Tayuya scoffed. "I am Tayuya the Foul! Captain of Orochimaru's serpent fleet and it is there I shall return."

"We will wait for Naruto…" Hinata started.

"Will you really?" Tayuya smirked. "Panda bitch is too wounded to fight and you aren't much of a fighter. I say we go now."

"You bitch!" Tenten growled.

"Yeah, yeah," Tayuya snorted. "As soon as I am back with Orochimaru, I'm sure I can convince him to let you two go on a lifeboat we have lying around."

"The Intrepid is Naruto's ship now!" Hinata argued.

"Finders keepers," Tayuya smirked. "And right now I am the only captain on board."

"I figured you'd do something like this," Tenten sighed. "Hinata now!"

"Wha…" Tayuya started to face the Hyuuga, only to realise the woman looked as confused as she did. She suddenly felt a sickening sense of weakness and fell to her knees.

"So Seastone really is effective against your kind," Tenten smirked as the shackles locked on Tayuya's arm.

"Where…" Tayuya started as she fell to her knees.

"You'd be surprised the sorts of things a HMS ship carries." Tenten smirked. "Well now that all the problems are dealt with all we have to do is wait for the idiot captain."

"Well that is technically not true."

The three girls all looked at a fourth figure.

"I couldn't sense your energy," Hinata whispered in shock.

"Yeah," The silver haired figure looked at the three girls lazily. "I think you killed all my men."

"Who are you?" Tayuya spat.

"Kakashi Hakate, at your service." The man eye smiled.

"A HMS Elite," Tenten scowled.

"Maa maa," Kakashi rubbed his head in embarrassment. "If you stare at me so intently I'll start to think you fancy me. And if it isn't the little Heiress. There is quite the reward for your safe return."

"Shit," Tayuya groaned.

"Oh and if it isn't Tayuya-chan," Kakashi eye smiled. "We meet again. It looks like capturing you will be even easier this time."

"I aint anybody's –chan." Tayuya spat.

"IT SO IS A CATCHPHRASE!" Hinata and Tenten exclaimed.

"Now is so not the time," Tayuya groaned.

* * *

Naruto and Mikoto walked through the streets, Naruto mumbling as he rubbed the disinfected areas of his face.

"I wonder where Nami went," Naruto mused… "Is that. Oh my gods it is!"

"Naruto?" Mikoto blinked as Naruto started dancing with joy.

"It's a ramen stall! They should have all the ingredients to make the meal of the gods! I haven't had ramen in forever! Every time I find some, something happens to take it away from me!"

"Er…" Mikoto couldn't help but giggle at her captain's childlike happiness.

"SPECIAL BUGGY CANNON FIRE!" The resulting blast destroyed most of the streets including the stall that Naruto had been dancing around.

"No..." Naruto fell to his knees and yelled at the sky, "NOOOOO!"

Despite it being glorious sunshine, the skies darkened and a heavy rain began to fall.

"Why did it have to be the ramen?!" Naruto moaned. "Fear not my friend. You will be avenged! Death to the infidels!" Naruto roared and raced down the street in the direction of the cannon, Mikoto in close pursuit. They approached a ruined area where the straw hat pirates were. As he charged towards the source of the cannon he saw Luffy stood watching as Zoro defeated some sort of circus swordsman before collapsing and snoring loudly.

"So… who's the dead man who launched that cannon shot?" Naruto stepped over the snoring Zorro and drew his swords.

"You think you can threaten me? I am the great Buggy!" Buggy roared at Naruto.

"Hey Luffy," Naruto ignored the clown pirate, "I'm going to be dealing with this guy… hey where is Nami?"

"She's gone somewhere," Luffy shrugged.

"I see," Naruto turned back to the pirate, "Oh well when you next see her tell her I eagerly await our next meeting."

"Sure," Luffy shrugged and sat down next to Zorro, poking his sleeping crew member.

"Alright," Naruto turned to face the furious Buggy, "So… you can separate your body parts. I guess that means slashing attacks are useless against you."

"That's right!" Buggy grinned. "There is no way the great and powerful Buggy will lose to such a…"

"You're not even worth fighting," Naruto sighed. "But you did destroy the ramen which leaves me no choice. I don't enjoy picking on weaklings." He cracked his knuckles.

"Bah! You think you can fight me?" Buggy laughed, "Bara Bara Windmill!" He yelled as he threw his legs at Naruto.

"Oh no whatever will I do?" Naruto deadpanned as he leapt over the clumsy attack.

"Just as I planned!" Buggy roared as he hurled hundreds of small daggers at the blonde captain. "In the air you can't dodge!"

"Is that so?" Naruto grinned and drew his swords, deflecting the majority of the blades all though some still hit him and knocked him back through the air, where he landed and casually pulled the blades out of his stomach. "That's going to leave a mark," Naruto grinned.

Unbeknownst to the blonde, his fight was being watching by a certain red haired navigator. "How can he take hits like that and shrug them off… Is this what battles between strong pirates are always like. I wonder… how does his strength compare to Arlong's?"

"So... you have some sort of healing fruit power." Buggy's eyes narrowed.

"Nope," Naruto grinned. "I can swim still and seawater doesn't affect my ability to heal and fight."

"Then how the hell can you heal so quickly?!" Buggy roared. "Where does your power come from?"

"Well you see," Naruto closed his eyes. "When I was young I was diagnosed with cancer and I joined a secret Canadian weapons program where they injected me with the DNA of a super healing mutant and…"

"GOD DAMN IT!" Nami yelled. "STOP MAKING UP STUPID STORIES ABOUT YOUR HEALING!"

"Ah!" Naruto brightened. "Nami is here! Hey watch it!" Naruto dodged a limb projectile. "No interrupting back story! That's against the rules!"

"I have no idea what you mean," Buggy grinned," As a pirate it is my duty to go against the rules!"

"Fine," Naruto smirked, "I guess I'll have to beat the crap out of you first!"

"You fool," Buggy roared. "You can't harm me! You swords are useless!"

"We'll see," Naruto charged the pirate dodging several more thrown limbs before thrusting his swords through Buggy's vital areas. "Let's see how you power works against stabbing!"

"Fool!" Buggy's body separated into several sections and scattered before reforming some distance from Naruto. "You can't kill me so easily!"

"I see," Naruto mused. Buggy had separated his parts just before Naruto's swords had struck. Maybe his vitals were still vulnerable and if he didn't activate his powers he could be taken down that way. "To think I would have to use this skill…" Naruto closed his eyes.

"Wait… where did you go?" Buggy scowled as he furiously looked around. The blonde's presence had faded completely. When he tried to stare at where Naruto was he found himself always quickly looking away and not registering anything.

"You mean you can't see him?" Zoro asked as he finally awoke and sat up next to Luffy.

"He isn't even hiding," Luffy tilted his head and he wasn't lying. Naruto was still stood before Buggy.

"Wait," Nami blinked as she walked up to the group, "He's vanished hasn't he?"

"Oh I see," Zoro smirked.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"He has hidden his presence. All living things emit energy or presence. It's how you can tell if someone is behind you without actually looking. Basically he is suppressing that energy and that allows him to disappear from people's perception. However it only really works on people who are smart enough to rely on their brain rather than just their eyes. Seeing as he is still there, only those who deny the truth of their own eyes are affected. Basically Buggy can see Naruto, but all his other senses are saying that Naruto isn't there so his brain goes with the majority vote. Same with Nami. She can see him but her brain is telling her that it is impossible for something to have zero presence so she is subconsciously missing him. It is really hard to suppress your presence to the degree that you are invisible in plain sight though. "

"So basically," Nami blinked, "Because you two are stupid enough that you accept what you see… you can see him?"

"Yeah," Zoro and Luffy nodded, "Idiots rule."

"YOU SHOULDN'T BE SO PROUD OF THAT!" Nami roared.

"I see…" Buggy grinned. "So you are still here but I can't see you because I am too smart! Well let's see how you deal with this!" He separated all his limbs and had them rocket all around. "Even if I can't see you let's see you dodge all of these attacks!"

"Quite easily actually," Naruto's voice whispered in Buggy's ear as he stabbed the clown pirate through the heart and throat.

"Gah!" Buggy roared in pain. "That hurts!" He separated and reformed himself. "AH! I can see you again."

"Yeah," Naruto scowled. "Even you brain will start to realise your other senses are probably wrong if you take an attack like that. Although usually you'd be dying and it wouldn't be a problem."

"Ah!" Nami blinked. "He appeared again!"

"He stopped suppressing his presence," Zoro shrugged. "Guess there was no point in continuing seeing as Buggy can see him clearly now."

"So bladed attacks are pointless," Naruto mused as he sheathed his swords. "Oh well. I guess that means it is time for Fisticuffs," Naruto took up and old fashioned fighting pose. "Come on then, put them up!"

"Die you blonde bastard!" Buggy threw another barrage of knives at Naruto who rolled out of their path and charged the clown pirate. "Bara Bara Windmill!"

"If you keep announcing your attacks it just makes it easier for me to dodge them!" Naruto yelled back as he flipped over their thrown legs of the Buggy and landed gracefully before charging the pirate.

"Damn it!" Buggy roared as Naruto effortlessly closed distance with him and punched him in the face, causing the clown pirate to spit up blood and stagger backwards. "What was that?"

"Ah you feeling that?" Naruto grinned. "That'd be the sacred toad Taijutsu technique. It uses pulses of energy to really make sure that you feel it when you're hit. I see you have next to no protection against blunt attacks. Kind of the opposite of Luffy over there." Naruto ducked under a furious stab and retaliated with a fierce jab to the stomach region.

"Damn it," Buggy repeated as he tried to separate his body parts only to find they wouldn't properly respond to his commands. "What did you do?"

"Didn't I mention that my toad style interferes with Devil Fruit powers? Oh my bad." He grinned evilly. "Now… PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS!" Naruto roared as he struck Buggy with a fierce upper cut causing the pirate's eyes to roll as he lost consciousness and hit the floor with an explosive thud.

"Wow…" Nami blinked. _'He dealt with Buggy as if he was a minor nuisance!'_

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Are you sure you won't join my crew?"

"Thanks for the offer but I'm sticking to my own crew." Naruto grinned. "A man has to walk his own path to grow in this world."

"Your flames of youth are burning brightly!" a loud voice bellowed.

"What the…" Naruto turned to face the newcomers. One was like an older doppelganger of the HMS cadet he had fought (at least in Naruto's mind he had put up a fight) earlier. He was followed by what looked like an entire platoon of HMS cadets.

"Well…" Naruto blinked, "How did I not sense you guys approaching? Must have been blinded by ramen rage. I almost gave in to the dark side."

"Do you ever make any sense?" Nami retorted.

"Only on special occasions," Naruto blew a kiss at her.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" The man proclaimed. "I am Might Guy! In light of your youthful behaviour, I will accept your surrender!"

"Well that is awfully nice of you," Naruto smiled weakly. "But you see I have somewhere to be…"

"Then I must stop you by force!" Guy declared.

"I'm sorry," Mikoto stepped between Naruto and Guy. "But my beloved onii-chan isn't going anywhere with you."

"An Uchiha?" Guy scowled. "So… Your unyouthful kind are involved somehow!"

"What is an old man doing wearing that get up?" Mikoto scoffed as the dark demon formed behind her again. "**Shouldn't you just admit that you are too old?" **

"Gah!" Gai staggered as if he had been physically struck. "I am not too old! If I was too old would I be able to do twelve laps of this town on my hands?!" He declared before leaping onto his hands and racing off.

"I think now would be a good time to go…" Naruto started to say before the sound of rifles before pointed at him silenced him.

"Hey…" Zoro grinned as he stood up, swords in hand (and mouth), "How many can you take?"

"**As many as I need to**," Mikoto placed a hand on her sheathed katana. The demon behind her seemed to grin at the prospect.

"Hmm…" Naruto scowled, "There must be about a hundred so…"

"They'll be easy to deal with," Luffy proclaimed.

"You are all insane." Nami deadpanned.

"Don't worry," Naruto smiled, "I'll protect you!"

"Idiot!" Nami blushed, "Stop saying things like that!"

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed. "She's my crew member! I'll protect her."

"Since when?!" Nami asked.

"The HMS are after me," Naruto smiled sadly. "I suppose it would be safer for you to go with Luffy," He turned to the beaming straw-hat pirate, "Take Nami and go. They shouldn't stop you."

"Well I don't care why the HMS are here," Zoro smirked, "When I was a pirate hunter they were always stealing my jobs so I feel like getting a little bit of payback."

"Yeah!" Luffy grinned. "I didn't get to fight the clown so I have pent up energy!"

"Fine," Naruto sighed, "I guess I can't stop you but I'll try and get their attention and you can make a dash for it Nami."

"Why?" Nami asked. "I mean we barely even know each other, why are you willing to sacrifice yourself for me?"

"Bah," Naruto laughed, "I'm not dying today. We will meet again and you can praise my heroics then."

"Fine," Nami sighed, "But you better not die moron. I'd feel guilty as hell if you died for my sake."

"Aww… so you do care!" Naruto smiled.

"Tch," Nami rolled her eyes.

"Alright then," Naruto beamed. "LET'S DO THIS!"

The two straw hat pirates as well as Naruto and Mikoto charged the dumbfounded HMS cadets who were so stunned they momentarily froze until the insane pirates hit their front ranks and chaos erupted.

* * *

Tenten coughed up blood as she struggled back to her feet. The fight against Kakashi was going badly. He could tell every move before you made it. Even her Hyper Senses weren't able to overcome his almost prophetic visions of the future, allowing him to evade their attacks with ease. What was worse though was he seemed to be able to mimic the abilities that were used against him. As soon as he glanced at you with his hidden eye, he gained a weaker version of your powers. While that would usually mean he wasn't as good as the original, in Tenten's case it meant he could repeatedly use her power whereas she could only use it once or twice without forcing her body to destroy itself.

She glanced to see Hinata out cold. The poor girl had tried using her sight to predict Kakashi's movements but the sheer difficulty in analysing his movement had rapidly drained her of her energy and all they had to show for her efforts was a slight cut on his face.

Tayuya was clutching a broken arm, tears in her eyes. Her devil fruit powers were useless against their opponent and her skill in combat was practically non-existent, although Tayuya blamed the Seastone hand-cuffs that Tenten had put on her. Even after they were removed she still felt drained and weak.

"Now then," Kakashi eye-smiled as he threw his tanto into the air and caught it, "Are you going to surrender now?"

"Screw you," Tenten hissed as she leant against a mast for support and threw a dagger which Kakashi tilted his head to avoid. The dagger cut a rope causing a suspended crate to come crashing down on Kakashi. "Hah!" Tenten smirked until the dust cleared and she swore.

"Maa maa," Kakashi brushed dust off of his outfit. "That was awfully close now why don't you…"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Naruto roared as he kicked Kakashi across the ship.

"Naruto!" Tenten and Tayuya exclaimed. Their captain looked worse for wear, his outfit was cut up but he himself seemed to be unharmed.

"How odd," Kakashi blinked, "I couldn't sense or predict you at all." He used his concealed eye and blinked stupidly. "Why can't I mimic you?" His instincts suddenly screamed dodge and as he quickly leapt backwards a massive gash appeared in the floor.

"**Tch**," Mikoto clicked her tongue in annoyance. "**I see you are going to be a nuisance**." Unlike her captain Mikoto appeared completely unharmed although her outfit was stained by blood. The demon behind her was grinning evilly.

"Mikoto Uchiha…" Kakashi blinked. "The Demon Mistress of Iai is here?"

"**You hurt my darling little sisters**," Mikoto's eyes glowed with rage. The demon seemed to open its mouth and roar.

"You hurt my precious people," Naruto added cracking his knuckles.

"NOW PAY IN HELL!" They both roared and charged Kakashi.

"Well see here…" Kakashi scowled as he narrowly evaded Mikoto's lightning fast slash only to receive a cut across his arm from a violent slash from Naruto. "Can't we talk about this?"

"**Maybe after I'm satisfied**," Mikoto smiled evilly and launched another fast slash before sheathing her sword.

"This is problematic," Kakashi mused as he leapt away from the two furious pirates. Mikoto's speed was pushing him to his very limit, not to mention Naruto was able to complete bypass his predictive ability. It was as if he didn't exist to his senses but the only person he had ever fought before he could do that was… "No way. Do you know Kurama Uzumaki?"

"How do you know that name," Naruto looked surprised. "He was my… adopted big brother."

"I see." Kakashi smiled and held up his hands in surrender. "I give up."

"**And what makes you think I won't just kill you?"** Mikoto asked.

"Because we don't kill helpless prisoners." Naruto shot her a warning look.

"**But…"** Mikoto started.

"See to their wounds." Naruto jerked his head at the others.

"**But…"** Mikoto scowled. "**You can't just…"**

"Please Mikoto-Onee-sama," Naruto employed the famous Puppy eyes.

"Well… okay…" Mikoto mumbled as a small trickle of blood rolled down her face and the demon seemed to have a pink hue beneath its eyes before fading into nothingness.

"Well…" Kakashi smiled, "I have to admit I didn't think you would have been able to control her. "

"I'm the captain," Naruto proudly declared. "They all respect and listen to me."

"Says who shithead!" Tayuya shouted.

"You know its true Tayuya-chan!"

"I am nobody's chan!"

"It so is a catchphrase," Tenten smirked.

"Fuck you panda bitch!" Tayuya spat before crying out in pain.

"Language," Mikoto warned as she continued to treat Tayuya's injury.

"So…" Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Why did you surrender?"

"Your brother is one of the few people on this corrupt planet that I actually respected. He truly sought to end all the suffering, whereas the Marines are happy to remain corrupt, the HMS and Uchiha only care about the money they can earn from all the fighting and most pirates are the cause of the suffering." Kakashi sighed softly. "I intended to join the same pirate crew as he did but when I found them he was already dead and the crew split up. Do you know how he died?"

"Yeah," Naruto looked down at the ship sadly. "He died to protect me."

"Do you mind telling me exactly what happened?" Kakashi asked.

"I… I don't really remember." Naruto admitted. "It's all a bit of a blur. I remember we left the Gamabunta, the captain's. Then he started to train me to fight so I could defend myself. All I remember is we were supposed to meet someone when we were attacked."

* * *

Two figures were hiding in deep undergrowth, watching as a group of seven well-armed men searched around for them.

"Naruto. You had to hide and stay hidden! Remember what I told you about suppressing your presence." A tall youth told a seven year old Naruto. The youth had vivid red hair that fell down to his shoulders and piercing red eyes. He was wearing an open red jacket showing off his muscular and scarred chest. Torn black trousers and thick black boots finished off his attire. An elegant rifle was slung over his shoulder and a well maintained sabre was sheathed on his hip.

"'Kay Kurama-nii," Naruto whispered.

Kurama smiled and ruffled the blonde's hair. "No matter what you stay hidden alright?"

Naruto nodded.

"Good," Kurama drew his sword and crept through the bushes, barely making any noise at all. He managed to get straight behind one of the heavily armed guards and thrust his sword through a weak point in the man's neck armour, cleaning removing the man's head. The mark of a red and black cloud was clear on the man's shoulder.

"Damn…" Kurama mused. "They found us."

"Argh!" Naruto yelled out in surprise as he was pulled from the bushes and held upside down.

"Well look here," A slick oily voice chuckled. His features were all hidden under a red and black cloak.

"Madaras," Kurama blinked.

"Kurama Uzumaki," The cloaked figure regarded him casually. "You didn't do a very good job of defending the ninth did you?"

There was a bang and Madaras reeled backwards, dropping Naruto who quickly ran to Kurama.

"That hurt," Madaras remarked, pulling the bullet out of his arm.

"Nice shot 'Ruto," Kurama rubbed the blonde's hair as Naruto reloaded his hidden one shot pistol. "I need you to run as fast as you can."

"But nii-sama!" Naruto squeaked.

"Run!" Kurama yelled as the cloaked figure charged toward them. "AND DON'T COME BACK!"

Naruto turned his back and ran as fast as he could, disappearing into the forests, tears streaming down his face. There was the sound of fighting all around him. He could hear gun shots and swords clashing. The pained cries of the defeated and dying. He hid in a small hole for what seemed like forever until he heard an explosion and then suddenly everything was quiet. Naruto slowly peaked out of his hole and started to make his way past the dead minions to the source of the was a large chunk of forest that was now just the ashes of trees. The cloaked man lay dead, half of his torso having been destroyed. Kurama was not in much of a better state.

"Kurama-nii!" Naruto yelled as he ran over to his fallen brother.

"Hey Ruto." Kurama coughed with a weak smile. "I'm glad you're okay."

"But what about you?" Naruto asked. His brother had massive cuts all over his body and was losing a lot of blood not to mention half his face was burnt beyond recognition. His prized rifle clutched in a bleeding hand and his sword completely destroyed.

"Take this," Kurama handed him the broken rifle. "Take it to my sister… she can fix it. She can fix anything…"

"Okay," Naruto clutched the rifle to his chest. "I'll go get help for you!"

"Hahaha," Kurama laughed weakly, "I'm beyond help. I'm sorry 'Ruto-chan. I said I'd protect you…"

"You did and you will," Naruto whispered tears in his eyes. "I'll find you help…"

"The prophecy…" Kurama coughed, "States that you will be a harbinger of great change… there are those who fear change and will try and stop you…"

"Nii-sama?" Naruto blinked.

"Don't let them kill you," Kurama smiled. "Fight for your right to live, to have fun and to have a family. Don't let the Atkatsuki win."

"What… I don't understand. "

"Hahaha," Kurama laughed softly. "One day you will. What is your dream?"

"To have my own crew and go around having adventures and fun." Naruto responded softly.

"Never forget that dream," Kurama smiled. "It is a good one. I hope you fulfil it."

"Nii-sama…" Naruto lowered his head.

"I always believed I could save this world," Kurama grinned. "I figured I would find you and use you to become a glorious leader and bring about a new world order… then I found you." He shut his eyes, "You were so small… so fragile. You looked at me with those empty eyes and it killed me a little inside. My only concern became protecting you. After all if I can't protect a single child… what right do I have to protect the world? I am weak and useless… but you aren't. You can save this war torn world. Will you do me a favour?"

"Of course Nii-sama," Naruto nodded.

"Try and save this broken world. Throw down the dragons who oppress us. Scatter that marines that are their weapons of choice and forge a world worth living in." Kurama smiled at Naruto. "And know that no matter what you do. I am proud of you, my brave little brother. Ah… I remember… how it all began… you… it seems I… have always…been watching over…. You… kit… in past lives… and future ones too… the cycle is never ending…"

"Nii-sama…" Naruto smiled sadly. "I won't let you down. Nii-sama? Kurama-nii?" Naruto shook the still body of his brother. "Nii-sama!" He yelled, tears spilling down his face as he screamed to the heavens.

* * *

"And that's all I remember," Naruto sighed, "Next thing I can remember I was on board Mei-chan's ship."

"Mei?" Kakashi scowled. "That would be Mei Terumi I assume?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded.

"I see." Kakashi sighed softly. "And what about that prophecy he mentioned?"

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged. "I spent a fair bit of time searching for information about it but nobody seems to know about it. In fact I had forgotten all about it until I met up with Itachi again."

"Well I wish I could help you," Kakashi eye-smiled, "But I never really paid much attention to prophecies and the like."

"Me either," Naruto admitted with a grin. "So… seeing as you are my prisoner what do I do with you?"

"Lock him in the brig!" Tenten roared.

"Make him walk the plank!" Tayuya yelled.

"Cut him into tiny little pieces and feed him to the sea gulls!" Mikoto added darkly, causing all the others to look at her.

"I'm sensing some sexual tension," Kakashi grinned. "I was joking!" He yelped as Mikoto started chasing him around trying to kill him.

"Hmm." Naruto looked at his crew. "Alright I have decided. He shall be our new cabin boy!"

"You mean… I have to clean up the deck and so on?" Kakashi blinked.

"Yup and you will answer to our cook, Mikoto-chan!" Naruto added.

"Oh…" Kakashi shivered as Mikoto began to laugh evilly.

"Unless you would rather me have Mikoto kill you," Naruto grinned evilly.

"I won't complain," Kakashi eye-smiled. "Besides I feel I owe Kurama a debt so I can repay him by helping you out."

"Oh… what debt is that?" Naruto asked.

"Not telling," Kakashi smiled.

"Hey! I revealed one of the most traumatising moments of my life, the least you can do is tell me this!"

"Nah," Kakashi chuckled as Naruto pouted and looked around the ship.

"So…" Naruto turned to Tenten, "You girls captured this ship?"

"Yeah," Tenten stood up proudly.

"Good job," Naruto beamed at her causing her to blush and look away.

"I didn't do it for you, this is the fastest ship in the HMS. While we have it there is no way they can catch Hinata." Tenten muttered.

"Hey TsunTsun," Tayuya mocked. "Stop cheating on your passed out lesbian lover already!"

"Shut up bitch!" Tenten growled. "I'll kick your ass!"

"Bring it!" Tayuya leapt to her feet.

"Ahahaha," Naruto laughed as Tenten and Tayuya argued and Mikoto continued her attempts to kill Kakashi. "It makes me glad to see my crew getting along so well."

"SAYS WHO?" Was the universal response he received.

* * *

**Name:** Kurama Uzumaki (The Crimson Fox)  
**Age:** 26 **Gender:** Male  
**Crimes: **Attacking Human Resource ships (i.e. Slaver Vessels), Attacking Marine Vessels, Refusal to wear a shirt even when it is so cold that his nipples can cut through steel. Not revealing information that would be very useful to the main character almost as if it was some sort of plot point.  
**Appearance: **Long red hair and fierce red eyes. He is a tall, muscular male who never wears a shirt showing off his scarred chest. He wears a red jacket and black trousers and boots and what do you mean he's ripping Dante off? Dante had _white _hair. Except in the reboot which is starting to somewhat grow on me… not sure why. I mean it isn't the Dante I knew but it is still a decent enough game. Speaking of Games SAO: Hollow Fragment is being released in the UK and I enjoyed the anime so I'll have to look into that… Man I have gotten really off topic on this.  
**Fighting Style: **He defeats demons and gains new weapons… oh wait that doesn't sound right.  
**Personality: **A bad ass who always has a wise crack to make when he's killing demons.  
**Guilty Pleasures: **Strawberry sundaes… Wait those are Dante's…

… Now I want to play the original DMC games…


	5. Chapter 5: Enter the Snake

Naruto: Ninja Pirate

A/N: Hello one and all. Sorry about the time it took to write this chapter. This one is a little shorter than my last chapter and is the first chapter of the Orochimaru arc (which is probably a two chapter arc) before the crew end up at a certain restaurant.

For those who voted for To Love 'Ruto, the first chapter is uploaded. **THIS STORY WILL COME FIRST**. That chapter is simply a reward for those who were voting to give a better idea of what the story actually is like. If any of the other stories reach a set number of votes I may upload the first chapters of those as well. But I was surprised by the number of alerts it got compared to this story then realised I never actually set any character tags up. I have now and it will be interesting to see if people prefer One Piece or To Love Ru stories.

Anyway not sure whether I like this chapter or not. I cut most of the stuff I wasn't happy with but… I don't know something seems to be missing. The next chapter will be uploaded at some point but as for when I can't say seeing as I am currently working 12 hour shifts (isn't life fun). Also I need to go through the earlier chapters and correct the really glaring spelling errors and I don't know when I'll get time to do that. Ah well Que sera sera

Well I hope you guys and/or gals enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto.

Story Start

Chapter 5: Meet the Snake

Naruto scowled as he sat at a smart oak desk and took in his surroundings. The room was furnished with the finest oak cabinets and were full of expensive looking bottles. His table had several scrolls scattered across it and there was a large globe in the corner of the room that appeared to be made of some sort of marble. Several mannequins wearing rich suits and a full HMS Elite uniform stood to one side whilst a weapons cabinet housing several fine looking blades and rifles stood on the opposite side of the room. He crossed his fingers and stared at the woman sat opposite him.

"So…" Naruto cleared his throat. "Orochimaru's secret base?"

"Yeah," Tayuya nodded, "We need to get there pretty quickly. Orochimaru's probably replacing me as we speak."

"Huh," Naruto scowled, "I think that's the first time you've had a full sentence without any form of cursing. You must be serious." His face brightened instantly, "But as a member of my crew you have job security. Come on, join the Orange Awesomeers!"

"That is not what we are called!" Tenten's voice called from outside the room.

"Well we sure as hell aren't calling ourselves the Foxhounds or whatever crap you guys came up with."

"Fox Hounds for life!" Tenten replied.

"Anyway," Tayuya cleared her throat. "As we travel right now it should take us a few days travelling. So if you and the Bisexual Panda Bitch can resolve the sexual tension…"

"Fuck you!" Tenten's voice called out.

"Seriously," Naruto blinked, "Don't you have anything better to do than eavesdrop on my conversations?"

"Nope," Tenten called from behind the door.

"Not really," Hinata added.

"There's not much happening," Mikoto added.

"I'm here because everyone else is," Kakashi added.

"Who's steering the ship?" Naruto asked.

"It's in autopilot," Kakashi responded.

"Oh, fair enough," Naruto shrugged.

"Ship's don't have autopilot shithead!" Tayuya sighed heavily.

"Ahahahaha," Naruto laughed. "See we need you on this ship to play the straight man. If not you then I'd have to rely on Tenten and she isn't really mentally suited to be the straight one of the crew."

"… Is he calling me a lesbian?" Tenten asked.

"I think he means that you wouldn't be a good counter to his idiocy." Mikoto clarified.

"But you are a lesbian you panda bitch," Tayuya remarked.

"I will shove that flute right up your ass!"

"I don't care what games you play with white eyes but I aint into that sort of stuff," Tayuya responded. "Argh! Damn it I keep getting dragged into your pace! I have to go to Orochimaru and that's that!"

"Well… I guess if you really want to leave the Orange Awesomeers…"

"Foxhounds!" Tenten interrupted.

"Whatever," Naruto waved off the interruption, "If you really want to leave then I guess I have no choice but to let you." He smiled at her, "But if you ever change your mind…"

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Tayuya remarked.

"Even so…" Naruto shook her hand, "It was an honour and privilege. Even if all you did was argue with Tenten."

"I did more than that!" Tayuya retorted.

"Yeah she failed to put that Shisui guy to sleep." Tenten pointed out.

"And she tried to lead a mutiny," Hinata added.

"And she got her ass kicked by me," A smug sounding Kakashi added. There was the sound of a sword being drawn. "Oh crap! Not the face!"

"**You still haven't been punished for hurting my little sisters!" **Mikoto's demonic voce chuckled darkly.

"Seriously are you not worried by that?" Tayuya asked Naruto. "I mean I'm pretty sure she is possessed by a devil or something."

"Meh," Naruto shrugged. "Everyone has their flaws."

"Being possessed by a vicious fucking demon seems like a pretty major flaw," Tayuya remarked.

"Are we all alive still?" Naruto asked.

"**Not if Kakashi stays still for a second," **Mikoto's demonic voice muttered.

"… Not really helping my case." Naruto rubbed his forehead. "Anyway I have captainy things to do so go do… whatever it is you do," Naruto ushered her out and slammed the door behind him.

As she stood outside the captain's door on the deck with the rest of the crew leaving their eavesdropping positions around the double doors (with the exception of Mikoto who was climbing up towards the crow's nest where Kakashi was trying to hide from her).

"Tenten!" Naruto called from the captain's quarters.

"Coming," She walked by Tayuya without acknowledging her. In fact the whole crew seemed reluctant to engage in conversation with her.

"Tch," Tayuya walked to the front of the boat and stared off into the waves. "Not as if I want them to talk to me," She muttered. "They probably won't even survive meeting Orochimaru. After all the weak must bow to the strong or be destroyed," She glanced at the captain's quarters, "And that idiot is too stubborn to bow to anyone."

* * *

"Well isn't this rich," Sasuke Uchiha smirked smugly as the Crow pulled into Orange Town. Stood around the docks was a company of HMS cadets with two special cadets and a captain stood milling around uncertainly.

"Gah! More unyouthful Uchiha!" Lee yelled. "Like the one who stole our ship!"

"Oh my. That is terrible," Itachi blinked. "Here take our ship as an apology."

"WE AREN'T GIVING THEM OUR SHIP!" Sasuke glared at his older brother before returned to smug mode and turning to the stranded HMS crew. "So what should we do with them?"

"What are you Uchiha doing here?" Shikamaru rubbed his temples.

"That's none of your business," Sasuke crossed his arms.

"We are hunting some pirates who escaped from Sasuke-chan here." Itachi answered.

"DON'T TELL THEM!" Sasuke yelled. "AND DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Yeah Itachi!" Shisui grinned, "Don't tell him that Naruto stole a member of our crew and escaped from our ship!"

"... Damn it." Sasuke face palmed.

"So...," Shikamaru grinned, "You too have suffered humiliation at the hands of Naruto Uzumaki?"

"What of it?"

"How about a temporary truce?" Shikamaru offered. "Lee and I will go with you along with a small group of HMS cadets. We capture Naruto and you can keep him and your captured crew member whereas we get his ship and out captured crew members."

"A ship is worth more than a pirate, especially considering you would also be getting the Hyuuga Heir." Sasuke growled. "Do you think I was born yesterday?"

"Well what would you suggest?"

"We leave you here and claim all the prizes for ourselves."

"And do you know where they are going?"

"We have no idea." Itachi admitted.

"Not a clue," added Shisui.

"DON'T TELL THEM THAT!" Sasuke snapped.

"Whereas we do know," Shikamaru stated.

"Oh really," Sasuke smirked, "Do you think I am stupid? How would you know where they are going?"

"I can guarantee that I know where they are going. But can you afford not to trust me and let the prisoners you took responsibility for get away?"

"Yeah that would look very bad," Shisui agreed.

"Father wouldn't be happy," Itachi added.

"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" Sasuke glared at his brother and cousin.

"I like his hair," Shisui pointed at Shikamaru, "If you two form a duet then my ultimate dream team, the Pineapple and the Duck, will be realised!"

"I…" Sasuke blinked, "I am literally stunned by your response."

"Yosh!" Lee growled. "I am Shikamaru's partner! I challenge you to a youthful duel to establish my position!"

"Wait what?" Sasuke blinked, "I don't want to be his partner!"

"Aww don't be like that Sasu-chan," Itachi ruffled his hair.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Sasuke growled. "Fine… we will take you but if it turns out that you are just bluffing… I'll throw you into the deep."

"Don't worry," Shikamaru smirked clutching a note in his pocket. "So long as you don't betray us we will lead you to your prisoners and make sure you are rewarded for your assistance." He subconsciously clutched the note in his pocket that read…

'Dear HMS people…

We are borrowing your ship until I find one that I like better which I should do at Orochimaru's Secret base. I probably shouldn't tell you this but hey. It's not as if you can follow us… because you don't have a ship. Because my crew stole it. And even if you did it isn't as if you know where the secret base is. It's a secret base for a reason. But in the event you _do _get another ship and _do _catch up with us maybe you would like to join the Orange Awesomeers. We have a great health plan and dental. Oh and tell the guy with the bowl cut and the weird eyebrows he got lucky last time. Next time we meet I will kick his ass!

Yours Sincerely,

Naruto Uzumaki – Pirate Captain Extraordinaire.'

* * *

Naruto strolled around the deck watch his crew working. The Intrepid was designed to be efficiently run by a crew of at least thirty people under normal circumstances, so things were going relatively slowly with only five hands. Still they were making good time towards the location Tayuya (who was below deck and refusing to help as she wasn't a part of his crew) had given them. He idly watched as Kakashi lazily mopped up the deck, being watched by an eagle eyed Mikoto whose hand rested on her katana. Hinata was on the wheel, seeming in a world of her own, muttering about 'naughty captains' and something about 'yielding to his manly sword'. Tenten was currently sat on some crates watching Kakashi and sharpening her knives.

"Hey Tenten," Naruto nodded at her as he sat next to her on a box of Seastone cuffs. "Why do you just use knives? We have plenty of pistols on board if you want to use them."

"Force of habit," Tenten admitted, sheathing a dagger in her bandolier. "Back at the HMS there was a limit on the ammunition and weapons that a cadet could carry. I was allowed a single pistol and a rifle as well as a sabre. Fortunately there is no regulation on daggers so I basically carried a healthy supply of them with me and became a lot more skilled with them than I was with pistols and rifles so chose them as my ranged weapon of choice."

"I see…" Naruto rubbed his chin, "But you no longer have to follow those regulations."

"A throwing dagger needs no reloading and can be easily reclaimed after the fight," Tenten responded. "Plus it can be used as a melee weapon if needed. The arc of a thrown knife allows you to hit targets out of sight if you are skilled enough. How about you?" Tenten nodded at the twin swords and pistols. Kurama's rifle had been left in the captain's quarters.

"Kurama-nii taught me his fighting style," Naruto looked off into the distance. "He was apparently known as the 'Bloody Fury' or the 'Whirlwind of Death' for the destruction he wrought wielding two swords although for some reason he only ever fought with one when I was with him. While I have some skill with them I don't compare to him. As for the twin pistols, reloading takes a long time and it is easier to carry multiple pistols. There's no reason I only carry two though. It just seems… right." Naruto rubbed his head.

"In that story you told Kurama you mentioned a single shot concealed pistol," Tenten glanced at his wrists. "Could you show me it?"

"Mei-chan took it away," Naruto pouted. "My former captain thought I was too young to have a weapon like that. It was basically like a bracer but when you moved your hand in a certain way it discharged a single shot. Reloading it was easy as well as it used vials that were like shot and powder in one."

"Ah," Tenten sighed. "That sounds really convenient. If only I could see how it worked."

"Why are you so interested in it?" Naruto asked.

"Well…" Tenten looked embarrassed. "I am kind of a weapons fanatic. Since a young age I have been interested in all sorts of weapons. The more exotic the weapon the better."

"Ahahaha," Naruto grinned, "You should never be embarrassed about your passions! I learnt that from my grandpa!"

"Your grandpa?" Tenten blinked.

"Yeah…" Naruto smiled. "He is a marine… at least I think he is because he was always wearing one of their coats. He isn't my real Grandpa. But he helped Kurama-nii and I hide. I think he used to be a pirate captain before he joined the marines."

"What were his passions?" Tenten asked.

"He was a super pervert," Naruto responded.

"… I see," Tenten narrowed her eyes, "And what else did he tell you?"

"That's about it," Naruto scratched his cheek, "I only really met his a couple of times but I got letters off him all of the time but all he ever wrote about was how his second in charge was a drunkard and that his former first mate left the marines and was causing all sorts of trouble."

"Oh," Tenten felt slightly relieved for some reason. "I see. Want to talk about Tayuya?"

"She wants to leave that's her call," Naruto crossed his arms.

"Look at the Ickle pirate boy pout," Tenten mocked. "I thought you said you'd let any of us go if we wanted to leave."

"I never said I'd be happy about it," Naruto sighed. "But I guess she has her reasons." Naruto stretched out. "If the directions Tayuya gave us are correct we should be at the secret base by tomorrow morning."

"What's the plan?" Tenten asked.

"We drop Tayuya off then get our reward." Naruto rolled his neck, "Hopefully it will be a good ship but if not I guess this will do."

"This is the fastest ship in the HMS fleet." Tenten smirked, "You'd be hard pressed to find better."

"But it is a HMS ship. It isn't mine. People see it they think HMS not Naruto and his awesome crew..." Naruto sighed.

"Because we haven't decorated it yet." Tenten declared. "You just watch, after we personalise it you'll feel differently."

"If you say so," Naruto finished his stretches and started performing martial arts kata.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not a fan of sitting around and twiddling my thumbs," Naruto smirked. "Nothing I say will change Tayuya's mind so all I might as well do some exercise rather than sit around feeling sorry for myself. Besides," Naruto jerked his head at the deck. "I'm sure Tayuya will realise my awesomeness when she sees her old captain and she will leap back abound the Satsuma."

"Satsuma?" Tenten blinked before scowling, "We are not calling the ship Satsuma!"

"What would you suggest?"

"Err... The Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

"What is with your fox obsession?!"

"Okay... How about the Fury?"

"Why not the floating Cliché?" Naruto remarked dryly.

The two spent the rest of the day arguing about the crews name as well as the ship. By the time the sun was setting they had only agreed on one thing, they needed more rum.

* * *

Tayuya sat on some crates in the bottom of the ship playing with the flute in her hands. She could hear Tenten and Naruto debating ship names and had to fight the urge to interrupt them. As Naruto had said she wasn't a member of his crew. After what seemed like an eternity the two seemed to stop talking. Judging by the light outside the pothole it was getting dark. _'One of his patrols should be stalking us right now.' _

Tayuya scowled as she remembered the fact Naruto had severed their ties with little drama. It was for the best though. Orochimaru wouldn't take kindly to Naruto strolling up and demanding a ship. He would be killed and the other idiots were no match for the sheer numbers Orochimaru controlled. It was a shame she actually enjoyed her time with the blonde shithead and his crew.

"You look down," Mikoto smiled as she took a seat beside Tayuya.

"What do you want?" Tayuya spat.

"Just seeing if you were alright."

"Well I'm just peachy so get lost," Tayuya huffed.

"I thought you said Orochimaru killed your mother," Mikoto looked at the younger girl. "Why would you be so eager to return to him?"

"He'll find me anyway," Tayuya rubbed her neck, "At least if I return to him I might survive his anger. Otherwise I haven't got a snowball in hell's chance. After all the weak must bow to the will of the strong."

"Then why not stay with us and let us protect you?"

"Because he has a whole fucking armada! He himself is far stronger than anyone on this crew!" Tayuya ranted, "He would kill all of us without so much as breaking a sweat!"

"I think you underestimate us," Mikoto smiled.

"I've seen him survive a barrage of cannon fire!"

"Our captain seems to regenerate pretty well."

"Yeah… but he still gets injured. Orochimaru simply sheds his skin and he is back to full strength!" Tayuya shook her head. "He has some sort of weird devil fruit power and some sort of weird amulet that prevents the weakening effect of sea water."

"That sounds like it would be useful to have," Mikoto muttered before walking up towards a window showing the sea outside. "Hey… that looks like another ship!"

Before she could sound the alarm she felt a strange sense of drowsiness accompanied by a pleasant lullaby. She fell asleep before she hit the floor.

"If you resist they'll kill you." Tayuya muttered as she lowered her flute before taking a deep breath. "It's not much but maybe you'll survive Orochimaru if you are captured alive." She whispered before playing her tune and walking through the ship. Fortunately Kakashi was already asleep when she passed and the only others were Hinata and Tenten who fell asleep almost instantly. She scowled at the absence of the blond captain and knocked on his door.

"What is it?" Naruto opened his door, "Oh, Tayuya. Changed your mind about joining my crew?"

"I'm sorry," She whispered something else before she started to play.

"Pardon?" Naruto murmured as he debated resisting the sleeping spell, but seeing her tear stricken face Naruto decided not to resist and fell to the floor snoring loudly.

"Well look who it is." A fat pirate climbed the side of the Intrepid and looked at the sleeping crew. "Looks like the useless trash has returned."

"Fuck you fatty," Tayuya glared at her fellow Snake Fleet captain Jirobo.

"Well might as well slit their throats," Jirobo smirked as he pulled a sword from his belt.

"Wait!" Tayuya stopped them.

"Why?"

"Because… they have powers that would be of interest to Orochimaru-sama."

"Really?" Jirobo snorted. "If they lost to someone as pathetic as you then I fail to see who they could be of any use."

"And do you want to explain to Orochimaru-sama why you felt the need to butcher some test subjects I happened to deliver directly to him?"

"Feh," Jirobo sheathed his sword and spat. "Whatever. Men!" He yelled as several more misfits climbed onto the ship. "We are taking this ship home!" A fierce cheer met his declaration and Tayuya busied herself dragging all of the Intrepid's crew into the captain's quarters where she tied and gagged them before locking the door and standing guard, in case any of Jirobo's men decided they wanted to sample the women while they were unable to respond.

* * *

Tayuya kept staring at the cave floor. After arriving at the series of caves littlering a small island of rock that was Orochimaru's base, she had been seperated from the sleeping crew of the Intrepid and lead to the council chamber as it was known, all though it was simply a cave with stone seats arranged haphazardly and a hole in the roof showing the moon. She felt the disapproving glares from her fellow captains as she sat kneeling on the floor before a throne carved out of stone into the shape of a snake. In it sat one of the most feared pirates of the East Blue. Orochimaru, the Serpent Pirate. The other captains sat on smaller thrones and Tayuya noticed the throne emblazoned with a musical note, her chair, was occupied. The chairs were all on different levels as the cave floor was left in its natural state making it uncomfortable. The light in the room was supplied by several braziers burning coal and the pale moonlight shining on her from the small hole in the centre of the cavern.

"Tayuya…" The oily voice spoke out silencing the mutters of the other captains.

"Orochimaru-sama," Tayuya fought to keep her voice level.

"You have returned." Orochimaru stood up from the throne. He wore plain clothes, just simple shirt and black trousers. An elegant sword was sheathed on his hip and he seemed to slither rather than walk. "Why? You know I do not reward incompetence."

"My life is yours Orochimaru-sama," Tayuya bowed her head.

"My, my," Orochimaru smirked. "It appears that you do in fact possess a brain inside that head of yours."

"I also brought some test subjects," Tayuya started.

"None of them are of interest to me," Orochimaru interrupted her. "They shall be dead before the night is done."

"But…" Tayuya opened her mouth and was struck to the floor by a vicious backhand.

"I don't recall giving you permission to speak wretch," Orochimaru hissed as he walked around her. "A failure such as yourself has no right to speak to me." He turned to the captains around him. "But I am not without… generosity. In light of your decision to return without prompting and as thanks for the Intrepid, I will allow you the chance to live. You will fight your replacement for my entertainment." He gestured to the seat.

"I shall slay her in your name," a bandaged man stepped up and walked towards Tayuya.

"Not here Dosu," Orochimaru smirked. "I believe that we all need some entertainment. You two shall fight in the Arena."

"As you command," the now named Dosu bowed and returned to the musical note chair.

"Yes," Orochimaru smirked at Tayuya. "If you win you may reclaim your old chair and crew. If you lose you die."

"Understood," Tayuya bowed her head.

"Now in order to ensure that the fight is completely fair. You will both be kept isolated until the fight." Orochimaru clicked his fingers and his two most trusted pirates, his first mate Kabuto and his personal body guard Kimimaro who lead Tayuya and Dosu away.

* * *

Naruto yawned contently as he awoke. Glancing around he found himself in a prison cell that was basically a large steel cage suspended over some frothing water some twenty feet below. He and the rest of his crew were suspended in a cage each. They appeared to be in some sort of cave with the only light sources being several torches placed around the walls. As far as he could see there was only one way into the small cavern and it was guarded by three indistinct pirates. He was dressed although he didn't have any of his weapons except Kurama's rifle. That was probably a gesture from Tayuya, knowing that the rifle didn't actually work. Thing was only Kurama's sister could fix it but Naruto had no idea where she lived or what she looked like or even her name so unless he happened to stumble across her and she recognised the rifle he was pretty much out of luck.

"Hey Room service!" Naruto called down to the guards.

"Well looks like we got a comedian here," One of the three guards mocked as he sauntered to the edge of the pool, a huge chunk of meat in his arms that he tossed into the frothing water, which exploded with intensity for a matter of seconds before returning to its somewhat less energetic frothing. "You ever seen an East Blue Ripper before? Not many have to tell you the truth. They can strip a man down to his bones in about twelve seconds."

"Thanks for the trivia," Naruto played with his hair braid and mentally cursed. Someone had taken all of his lock picks out of his hair. "Way to send mixed messages Tayuya. Give me a rifle that you know means alot to me but take away the lock picks that would help me escape. Are you on my side or not? Not that this cage will be hard to escape from but I'd rather keep my abilities concealed until the last moment."

"You're welcome," The guard smirked. "I think it is only fair that a man knows what's going to kill him. Shame about the pretty ladies though. I suppose at least they'll sleep through their deaths."

"Hmm… so we will be lowered down slowly for maximum fear before death?" Naruto asked.

"You'd think so," The guard nodded, "That would be in tune with the old style villainous methodology." He scratched his chin, "Unfortunately Orochimaru-sama isn't really into that old school thinking. He prefers his enemies to die with the minimal amount of fuss."

"So why suspend us over the top of those fish. Couldn't he have slit our throats when we were asleep?"

"Well he could…" The guard nodded. "But apparently the thought that you could escape possibly is very therapeutic. And your face when you realise that you are going to die is apparently priceless or so I'm told and Orochimaru wants to watch you die."

"Ah…" Naruto started swinging the cage but it wouldn't move.

"We thought you'd do something like that," The guard nodded. "That's why you'll notice that the cages are held up by a solid bar surrounded by chains."

"Really," Naruto scowled. "I don't suppose these cells are made from some sort of cheap steal that's easy to brake."

"Seastone actually," The guard offered. "We weren't sure if any of your crew had devil fruit powers so… better safe than sorry."

"I see," Naruto looked around his cell. "So you put all this effort into the cell."

"Yeah." The guard looked quite proud.

"May I point out one tiny little problem with your cell." Naruto walked up to the bars.

"Er… sure."

"No cell is Naruto-proof," Naruto smirked as he vanished from sight.

"Wait!" The guard cursed, "Quick bring his cell to the loading area!"

The other two guards played around with a set of levers, causing Naruto's cage to come away from the water and lowered it onto the floor.

"I don't see him in there," One of the other guards walked up and held a torch to the cell.

"Look at the floor!" The third guard pointed out. "His shadow shows he is still in the cell!"

And like that the spell was broken and a bemused Naruto revealed to them.

"Well… I wasn't expecting you to see through that," Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "Oh well…"

"Put him back!" The first guard turned to the other two, who had a strange look on their face before they fell to the floor lifeless. "What the…" He felt a sharp pain in his neck and fell to the floor lifeless.

"So… that happened," Naruto rubbed his chin.

"I always hide senbon needles on me," Tenten's voice called out from her cell. "So… did Tayuya betray us?"

"I'm not sure," Naruto shook his head, "When I saw her she was crying." He cracked his knuckles. "Someone made Tayuya-chan cry and when I find that someone…" Naruto ripped the Seastone bars from his cage. **"They will regret it." **

"Is it bad if I think the demon voice sounds hot on you?" Tenten asked.

"Ahahaha," Naruto laughed as he stepped out of his cell. "I tried to imitate Mikoto-chan. How'd I do?"

"Pretty well actually. So… how strong are you really? Well obviously strong enough to do that but should I expect you to bench press Sea kings?" Tenten asked as Naruto manipulated the levers to lower her and the rest of the crew to the cavern floor.

"I can only attain the strength to break free for a small time and at a heavy cost," Naruto held out his arms and Tenten gasped. Blood trickled down his arms and at a rate that seriously worried Tenten "I can temporarily enhance my strength by channelling my natural energy into my arms. Unfortunately my control is terrible. I get super strong but I rip apart my arms in the process. Even with my healing it takes time to fully heal. Plus it is really tiring," Naruto muttered as he sat down and Tenten awoke the other crew members.

"So… what now?" Tenten sat down beside her captain while the others looked around groggily.

"Well…" Naruto winced as he pushed himself off the floor. "First we need to find out just what's going on."

"Tayuya sold us out," Kakashi pointed out sullenly.

"I wouldn't have thought an elite HMS soldiers such as yourself would have fallen so easily, especially seeing as you resisted Tayuya's attack before." Mikoto looked at the scarecrow.

"I was already asleep. You can't resist things in your sleep," Kakashi seemed to eye-pout, which caused Mikoto to laugh.

"Tayuya is only here because she is scared," Mikoto started to explain Tayuya's reasoning. "You see when she was a small girl..."

"I don't care," Naruto cut her off. "She's a member of my crew whether she admits it or not. That's the only reason I need for helping her. All I know is when she used her spell on me she was crying… and do you know what she said to me?"

"No…"

"She said sorry… and she called me 'Her first true friend'," Naruto's blue eyes burned with determination. "As soon as we are armed we will split into two teams. Kakashi, Tenten and Hinata, you'll find the Intrepid and get her read to sail. Once that's done sabotage the other ships so when we escape they can't chase us. Mikoto… we are going to save our missing crew member and to find the person who made her cry."

"And when we find him?" Mikoto asked.

"We make them pay." Naruto grinned as he cracked his knuckles before letting out a squeak of pain.

"Way to ruin your image," Tenten snorted.

"My arms really hurt!" Naruto joined Kakashi in pouting as the girls merely chuckled.

"May God have mercy on the one who hurt Tayuya **because I sure as hell won't!" **Mikoto's demon loomed grinning maniacally.

"See," Tenten pointed to Mikoto with an arm on Naruto's shoulders, "That's how you look badass."

"I get no respect…" Naruto massaged his temples.

* * *

Profiles

**Name**: Orochimaru the Serpent King  
**Age**: Unknown **Gender**: Male… at least at the moment anyway.  
**Crimes:** Murder, Illegal Experimentation, Paedophilia, Tax Evasion and standing in a trench coat outside all boy schools  
**Appearance:** Pretty much what he always wears.  
**Fighting Style**: Unknown  
**Personality:** It's Orochi-friggin-maru.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** I don't think he has any innocent pleasure to be blunt

**Name**: Kabuto Yakushi  
**Age**: 24 **Gender**: Male  
**Crimes:** Illegal Experimentation, Necrophilia, Not washing his hands after said necrophilia  
**Appearance:** Yeah… his usual attire.  
**Fighting Style**: Unknown  
**Personality:** The kind of person who even a mother couldn't love. Believes he is some sort of intellectual and he is a massive sadist. Seriously this guy is completely messed up but then again he had been with Orochimaru when he was a little boy so probably playing hide the trouser snake with Orochimaru had some effects on his psyche.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Yeah… Even I'm not twisted enough to write those down.

**Name**: Kimimaro the Hound Kaguya  
**Age**: 19 **Gender**: Male  
**Crimes:** Mass murder, being a mindless pansy who despite being incredibly moral will completely ditch said morals if Orochimaru told him to. Seriously I bet he'd even rip his own arms of if Orochimaru merely hinted it would amuse him.  
**Appearance:** Starting to think this isn't required on the profiles on non-main characters. There the only ones who actually have an attire change.  
**Fighting Style**: Unknown  
**Personality:** None Existent. If Aoi and this guy were locked in the same room anyone who entered would spontaneously explode as the complete lack of personality in the room would cause a person to decompress to balance out the personality in the room… because personality is like pressure. Because I said so.  
**Guilty Pleasure:** Bunny girl photos.


	6. Chapter 6: Enter the Secret City

Naruto: Ninja Pirate

A/N: Hello everybody. I'm glad that the last chapter was pretty well received. There was a comment that there are too many Naruto characters being mentioned but unfortunately that's just how the story will go and a few more are introduced here. At least in Naruto Arcs. After this arc there will be the whole Arlong Arc so it will be back to One Piece characters and after that… well we'll just have to see what happens.

This chapter has a lot of Naruto characters in it but I am undecided at the moment which if any should join Naruto's crew. Probably none of them will but no final decision has been made about that. I also haven't actually decided on how many crew members he should have. Obviously the more there are the less impact each one will have.

So maybe around seven or eight crew members would be a good number. I don't know I'll see how the story develops. It has been noted I don't seem to like Kimimaro. I don't really have any opinions on him. The only reason his profile was as it was is because he was a minion of Orochimaru and I couldn't think of anything to write down. I just have generally minimal interest in him

On a side note, I am actually pleasantly surprised at the amount of favourites and follows To Love 'Ruto has received. I have removed To Love 'Ruto from the poll as it was by far run away favourite with over 50% of the votes. As such it will be ran alongside this story. I will try and update them both equally but this story will probably get the priority.

This is quite possibly my longest chapter. And that is with massive chunks take out because I didn't like how they came across. As it stands this chapter is kind of filler I guess? It explains a bit of the back story of some of the characters but nothing major. The plot does somewhat advance but if it carries on at this pace the Orochimaru arc might last another couple of chapters. In fact I would say that is the minimum number of chapters it will take. Sorry for those of you who want to hurry up and get back to the main Canon of the One Piece world. There is a little something for you straw-hat fans in this chapter.

This chapter is almost 10,000 words long! Admittedly the last 2000 words are Naruto's character sheet to give a general idea of the abilities he has shown and also show what everyone else is up to and around 600 words are my AN and disclaimer but still…

For some reason I had difficulty uploading this chapter. The document refused to load. I created another document and copied the text. Same problem. I even tried the copy and paste document upload with no luck. In the end I had to upload Chapter 5 as Chapter 6 and copy and paste the story into the editor. That seems to have worked...

Sorry for the long rant.

Disclaimer: Surely saying this once a story is enough. I shouldn't have to do it every chapter right? But just in case I still do not own Naruto or One Piece. There… Now on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 6: Enter the Secret City!

Naruto idly rubbed his aching arms as Mikoto peered around a badly lit stone corridor that looked as if it had been mined to join to smaller caves. They had split off from the others in order to find Tayuya and also whoever was the reason for her tears. Unfortunately there were no signs telling them which way to go and the few lackeys they had encountered had been less than helpful. But on the bright side he was now armed again. Admittedly the two sabres that Naruto carried were more rust than metal and he was pretty sure the pistols he had claimed were just as likely to backfire on him as they were to kill what he was pointing them at but at least it was something. Mikoto had refused to take their weapons, stating as a sword mistress it was an insult to her blade to carry any other weapon.

"For the main headquarters of a notorious pirate with an entire fleet at his command, this place is kind of empty." Naruto remarked before stubbing his toe on the uneven floor and cursing. "Seriously this place is a health and safety nightmare. Where is all the luminous fungi that you see in all RPGs? Hell even some glowing crystals would be useful. Instead all we have are these crappy torches," Naruto jerked his head at one of the flaming branches that were periodically slotted into small holes bored into the cave walls. "All they seem to do is make the shadows deeper. Plus the flickering really isn't helping matters."

"Clear," Mikoto lead the way into another cave, seemingly identical to all the other caves in that they had absolutely no identifying features. Given the poor light they all seemed to roughly the same size with nothing in them except a few crates and prisoners cells holding people who had empty eyes. Naruto had liberated some of them but they just stayed in their cells slowly rocking themselves. It enraged Naruto to see people so broken by this Orochimaru person. He swore that once Tayuya was safe, that bastard would die.

"I wonder what is in these crates." Naruto muttered as he tried to pry one of them open with one of his stolen swords only for said sword to snap in half. "Seriously… who can any force as ill equipped as these guys be such a threat?" Using what was left of his sword he managed to pry the lid off of the crate and almost vomited when he saw what was inside.

"What is it?" Mikoto walked over and looked horrified. They were full of glass vials containing various organs and other glistering mounds of flesh. "What the hell are these doing here?"

"The more I see in this place," Naruto remarked weakly, "The more I begin to worry about just who this Orochimaru guy is." He staggered over to a small hut and entered. Inside was a series of cells containing dirty and whimpering figures.

"Hello?" Naruto tried, expecting the same lack of response that the prisoners of Orochimaru seemed to give.

"Hello?" A girl in the rightmost cage looked up from her feet. She wore cracked glasses and messy red hair. "Are you here to save me? She sashayed up to the bars, "For a handsome man such as you, I'd make it worth your while."

"Stand back," Naruto peered at the lock and pulled a senbon out of his hair braid (courtesy of Tenten) and began fiddling with the lock. After several minutes of cursing from the blonde pirate, the girl cheered as she was released and gave Naruto a hug before looking at him with a smouldering gaze.

"Your presence… it is so warm. It is so… intoxicating," The girl removed her glasses and ruffled her hair before clinging to his arm.

"Ah… well…" Naruto stepped backwards out of her arms. "I don't need you to repay me. I was just doing what was right."

"So noble…." She purred and grabbed his hand guiding it to her ample breasts.

"Naruto-kun?" Mikoto entered the room and in what seemed like an instant, the girl had teleported to a respectful distance and was wearing the glasses again. "Are you alright? She turned to face the freed prisoner, "Who is this?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto grinned weakly, "I forgot to ask your name."

"Karin Uzumaki," In a complete one eighty of her previous personality the girl crossed her arms and huffed. "Not that you need to know it."

"Er…" Naruto blinked, "Wait did you say Uzumaki? Did you know a Kurama Uzumaki?"

"Name rings a bell," Karin responded. "Maybe a distant relation or something."

"So you can't tell me if he had a sister," Naruto sighed. "I was told she was the only one who could fix this rifle," Naruto indicated the rifle.

"Oh… you'd want probably want the Uzumaki Engineer then." Karin remarked. "She is pretty famous amongst our clan. They say she uses some strange sort of drawing art that allows her to build ships that go faster and can take more damage than any other. She used to be very much in demand before I was brought here. I don't know what her name is though."

"That sounds amazing! Do you know where I could find her?" Naruto grinned

"How should I know?" Karin looked away from his smile. "I've been imprisoned here for god knows how long!"

"Ah, my bad," Naruto cringed. "Why were you imprisoned?"

"Because I am a failure… a reject like the rest," Her expression darkened.

"A failure?" Naruto scowled.

"Orochimaru experiments on his men. Most of the cannon fodder all try and earn his favour so he can turn them into powerful creatures but the majority die when experimented on. The guards in this place are all weaklings who haven't earned the right to be experimented on."

"What did he do to you?" Mikoto asked.

"He wanted me to become some sort of living medical dispenser," Karin rubbed her arms. "By simply placing my hands on someone I was supposed to be able to channel healing energy into them, like Orochimaru-sama's old teammate. Instead the energy is in my body but it can't get out as it gets trapped in my skin so I was deemed a failure and sent here to rot away."

"That bastard," Naruto cracked his knuckles. "I'll make him pay for treating people like that!"

"I won't hold my breath," Karin snorted.

"Are there other prisoners like you?" Naruto asked, "I mean people that are still mentally functioning."

"A couple of the rejects I was sent down here with are sane. At least they were whenever it was we were sent down here. Time kind of loses all meaning when you are stuck in a dark cave being fed only when the guards remember to and if they can be bothered to." Karin scowled. "I guess I could show you to them."

"Can you help us find Tayuya?" Mikoto asked.

"Oh that's easy. She is fighting in Orochimaru's arena in a matter of hours." Karin sighed. "She doesn't stand a chance of beating the mummy bastard they have her fighting though so I would just cut your losses and leave her behind."

"No one gets left behind," Naruto shook his head. "As captain of my crew it is my duty to protect all those who serve under me."

"Well I guess I can tell you where to find her," Karin found herself unable to look at Naruto. "If you carry on through the cave you will find a large door. Through there is the main complex where Orochimaru-sama actually lives as well as all of his forces. From there you should be able to find your way to the Arena. It will just be a case of heading towards all of the noise."

"I see," Mikoto nodded.

"Let's free the others first," Naruto remarked.

"If Tayuya really is about to fight we need to get their quickly." Mikoto countered.

"But we might need the extra back up," Naruto argued.

"How can we trust them to fight with us?" Mikoto glanced at Karin, "No offence intended."

"Whatever," Karin humphed. "If you can't agree just split up. I'll take the blonde to free my fellow rejects and you can go and free Tayuya."

"Fine," Mikoto looked uneasily at Karin. "Be safe captain."

"You too," Naruto nodded. "Don't start anything until I get there with our back up. If you need to, get Tayuya and head to the ship. Hopefully Tayuya will know where it is."

"Alright." Mikoto cast one last distrustful eye at Karin before leaving the room. No sooner had the door shut than Karin had Naruto's arms trapped between her modest cleavage and her glasses had mysteriously vanished.

"So Mr Hero," Karin whispered into his ear. "Why don't I show you my gratitude?"

"What?" Naruto blinked uncertainly. "Shouldn't we free the other 'rejects' as you call them and what the hell happened to your mood?"

"There is no rush," Karin's hand slowly crept towards Naruto's crotch when the door suddenly opened.

"Sorry which way out of the cave did you say?" Mikoto entered the room to find a sullen Karin stood at the opposite side of the room to a confused looking Naruto.

"I guess I can show you," Karin walked out of the room. "It's not as if I have anything better to be doing."

"What's with her?" Mikoto turned to her bewildered captain.

"I think this Orochimaru must have done some pretty serious mental damage to her," Naruto shrugged as they followed the red head out of the holding room.

* * *

Tayuya sat staring at her reflection. She had bags under her eyes and a bruise on her face from where Orochimaru had hit her. In a couple of hours she would be led to the arena and forced to fight to death against someone who according to the little she had heard since her arrival, was far stronger than her and was one of Orochimaru's finest henchmen. The odds were not in her favour. She cast a glance around the room looking for anything that could give her inspiration. The room she was in was not a cell, at least not intentionally. It had a relatively soft bed and a bookcase full of random books such as 'Twenty Top Tips to Dress to Impress' and 'How to be a Strong Independent Woman'. She had received a delicious meal, although your impending death tends to kill your appetite more often than not. There was a knock at the door.

"It is time," The door opened to reveal Kabuto who smirked at her. "Are you sure you won't reconsider… after all I am sure nobody wants to die a virgin."

"If the alternative is sleeping with you then thank fuck I'm dying today," Tayuya spat.

"My, my." Kabuto smiled. "That feisty nature of yours only makes me harder."

"Fuck off," Tayuya stormed out of the room, all too aware of the bespectacled pirates wandering eyes on her body. She walked out of the small house and onto a badly paved road, scowling at the little light provided from the sun.

The village's name had been Sanctuary. A single community living on extremely fertile lands. There were at most twenty houses in the green fields. The village was impossible to get to without knowing which of the winding caves to go which the locals had thought the perfect defence. A large vista of green surrounded by unsaleable mountains which caves that only the villagers knew how to get through. The idyllic village had existed for a hundred years, completely isolated from the outside world with only the occasional marooned sailors being found in the caves and rescued to add some variety to the gene pool. Then the world government found them. It was said that of a fleet of two thousand marines that got marooned in the caves, only four hundred survived to find the right path to the village, but against a village of maybe two hundred people that four hundred was enough to ensure that the marines could run the village, which they did without hesitation. They worked the villagers like slaves, taking what they wanted from who they wanted. It was an act of desperation when after some three years of misery, some villagers wrote a map showing the route through the caves and placed it in a bottle along with a plea for help. How unfortunate for them that the one who would find that bottle would be Orochimaru.

He brought his crew of twelve 'experiments' and quickly and effortlessly destroyed the marines. The people of Sanctuary hailed him as a savoir. Then a few months later they realised just how wrong they were. Now what was once a vibrant green community was now a paved industrial town with smoke belching chimneys giving the place a permanent smog. Pirates roamed the streets, fighting and killing each other for entertainment. And in the middle of the town stood Orochimaru's Arena. A large coliseum where all sort of immoral and illegal entertainment could be found, after all Orochimaru realised having so many pirates cooped up wouldn't end well without some way of entertaining themselves.

Tayuya had only been to the arena once but it was a memory that still haunted her, two girls no older than she was when Orochimaru killed her mother, fighting to the death for the 'honour' of being experimented on by Orochimaru. They had both died of their wounds but this only seemed to provide more entertainment for the twisted masses. Tayuya didn't find it very entertaining at all.

Thinking back she realised she had had more fun in the past two weeks she had been with Naruto and his crew that she had in her entire career under Orochimaru. Part of her regretted her decision to betray the crew but at least they would have a chance to escape. If she knew the blonde bonehead as well as she thought, he would have probably escaped from his cell and be looking for his ship. Regardless of Orochimaru's claims she knew he was still alive. He would get his crew out alive and that was the best she could hope for. She didn't deserve to be on his crew. They all carried a pleasant aura and were (with the exception of the scarecrow) good people. Even if that Mikoto was a little too nosy. It wasn't completely unpleasant having someone care for you. If she had stayed with them Orochimaru would have hunted them down and killed them in front of her as punishment for not returning before killing her. Yes this was the best outcome.

"One final offer," Kabuto asked as they approached the Arena.

"Do me a favour and die." Tayuya responded.

* * *

Shikamaru glanced at Sasuke who was glaring at the crew on the boat beside the Crow. During their travels they had come across the other ship and Shikamaru had recognised the crew as ones that were with Naruto at the time of the ship stealing incident. Pulling alongside the boat Sasuke had ordered them to stop and answer their questions, to which the captain agreed only if they gave him some meat. They were now running low on food and the captain didn't show any signs of slowing his eating.

"Are you sure this guy can help us?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"He was with Naruto when he stole our ship," Shikamaru rubbed his eyelids.

"So…" Sasuke turned to the grinning straw hat pirate. "Do you know where Naruto is?"

"Why are you looking for him?" Luffy paused in his eating. "Are you trying to recruit him?"

"What?" Sasuke blinked.

"I called first dibs!" Luffy crossed his arms.

"I am not trying to hire him," Sasuke growled.

"We aren't?" Itachi blinked. "I thought that was the whole reason we were chasing him."

"Shh…" Shisui whispered in a loud voice, "That's just a ploy to trick that guy."

"Oh I see," Itachi nodded before turning to Luffy. "We are definitely not trying to recruit Naruto. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink." He spoke in his usual deadpan.

"LIKE HELL WE'D BELIEVE THAT!" Nami yelled.

"Oh that's a relief for a second I thought you were trying to poach him from me." Luffy beamed.

"Ladies and Gentlemen… my captain." Nami face palmed. "But we aren't selling Naruto out to some guy with a pet duck."

"That isn't a pet," Itachi cut in, "It's his hair."

"Wow really…" Nami snorted and walked to the other side of the boat clutching her stomach as she vibrated with suppressed laughter.

"Just tell me where he is or else I will stop asking nicely." Sasuke twitched as he put a hand on his Katana.

"You'll never get me to reveal his location!" Luffy stuck his tongue out.

"Then you leave me with no choice!" Sasuke drew his katana. "Men! Board that ship!"

"Would that be these guys?" Zoro asked from behind Sasuke making him spin around. The deck was littered with the unconscious crew of the Crow.

"What? Why didn't you say something?" Sasuke shot a heated glare at the conscious crew members.

"I was distracted by my reflection in his swords," Itachi replied.

"I was distracted by his reflection as well." Shisui added.

"They weren't my crew members," Shikamaru shrugged.

"Yosh! I was too busy vibrating with youthful energy!" Lee yelled.

"What does that even mean?" Sasuke deadpanned. "And for the record, you all suck."

"Don't worry Itachi," Shisui patted his downcast friend on the shoulder. "He's just jealous of your good looks."

"NO I'M NOT!"

"It will make life so much easier if you just admit it," Itachi smiled. "I can understand how having such a sexy, talented and all-round amazing older brother can give you an inferiority complex to go with your Oedipus complex from having such a sexy mother and a miserable old man as a father."

"My what?" Sasuke blinked. "What even is that?"

"I think it involves wanting to kill your dad?" Shisui rubbed his chin. "Oh and screwing your mom."

"I DO NOT HAVE AN OEDIPUS COMPLEX!" Sasuke roared.

"What is wrong with you?" Itachi looked genuinely disgusted.

"What?" Sasuke blinked.

"Have you not seen our mother?" Itachi pulled out a picture with said woman in lingerie. She had black flowing hair and a killer figure with well-developed breasts and curves in all the right places, "She is a twelve out of ten easily."

"I…" Sasuke blinked. "Why do you have a picture of our mother like that?"

"Why do you not?" Shisui pulled out an identical copy along with Shikamaru, Zoro and Lee (it's not unyouthful because she is _that _hot).

"I hate you all." Sasuke dead panned. "My mother is a wonderful mother and a brilliant cook not some sex object."

"Hey… I think I should recruit her," Luffy remarked, "I need a cook."

"YOU CANNOT HIRE MY MOTHER!" Sasuke yelled.

"Actually…" Itachi coughed. "You kind of can." He held out a leaflet. "She does all sorts of odd jobs."

"What?" Sasuke glared at his brother.

"Yeah her rates are reasonable but obviously no hanky panky." Shisui added.

"Hanky panky?" Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"That's still a widely used term!" Shisui defended himself. "What? It is!" He called after Itachi who walked away sadly shaking his head.

"Sasuke's hot mom aside," Shikamaru cut in ignoring Sasuke's yell, "Do you know the location of Orochimaru's secret base?"

"You see the thing about secret bases is their locations are kind of secret," Nami retorted. "But… for the right price I might be able to dig out some old maps of mine that could show possible secret base locations."

"Right price? Your captain just ate us out of supplies and now you want to bankrupt me too?" Sasuke spat. "Fat chance. You will tell us or else."

"Or else what?" Zoro remarked with a grin.

"Or else the elites of my crew will show you why you don't mess the USS!"

"Actually today's a bad day for me," Itachi remarked. "Can we postpone the fight until next Tuesday?"

"Hanky panky is still a modern term," Shisui pouted as he stood staring out at the ocean lost in his own world.

"We are HMS," Shikamaru yawned. "This doesn't concern us."

"Yosh! It is unyouthful to interfere with another's youthful flames!"

"Traitors!" Sasuke roared. "And once again, what the hell does that even mean?"

There was an awkward silence as Zoro and Nami actually felt pity for the duck haired USS cadet.

"So…" Luffy cleared his throat. "Do you have any more meat?"

* * *

"Well… this is interesting," Kakashi remarked dryly as he stepped out of the cave system and beheld the town of Sanctuary. "A bustling town hidden away amongst a maze of tunnels." They had been following Hinata's energy senses leading them towards where the largest number of people were, reckoning that the pirates would all be gathered around a dock. Imagine their surprise when they instead found themselves in a modern looking town. As they walked around they seemed to just blend into the crowd, the locals assuming anyone who looked different was one of Orochimaru's pirates and the other pirates not really caring either way.

"What a wonderful world we live in," Hinata remarked as they saw a strange metal contraption bellowing smoke out as it moved along the street at a slow pace.

"Yeah… just peachy," Tenten remarked as she choked on the fumes.

"Ah… I forgot about your sensitive lungs," Hinata looked apologetic but Tenten waved her off holding a cloth to her mouth.

"Sensitive lungs?" Kakashi glanced at the brunette. "I thought you were supposed to be a HMS elite candidate."

"I had a disease as a young girl," Tenten remarked through the cloth. "Thick smoke and heavy pollution tend to affect me more than other people."

"It's not contagious is it?" Kakashi eye smiled.

"It was." Tenten scowled. "It was the Choking Plague if you heard of it."

"Who hasn't?" Kakashi remarked. "There was an entire city that was quarantined then destroyed with fire due to that plague."

"Yeah," Tenten nodded. "That was my home city. My family and I managed to get out before the quarantine but I had a mild form of the disease. I recovered but my lungs never truly healed properly."

"Did they ever discover the origin?" Kakashi asked.

"Not that I am aware of." Tenten shook her head. "I never really bothered checking either."

"Well there appears to be something happening at that large coliseum style building," Kakashi nodded at the pirates all slowly gravitating towards it. "If we follow the pirates they will eventually go to their ships right?"

"Well… we could just ask them where the docks are." Tenten pointed out.

"We could do that yes…" Kakashi admitted.

"But you want to see what all the fuss is about," Tenten deadpanned and got an eye smile in return.

"Who knows, maybe we will run into Tayuya." Kakashi smiled.

"If we do I have a few choice words for her." Tenten cracked her knuckles. "Regardless of what Naruto says, she betrayed our trust! I don't care if she did it under duress or not."

"Ano…" Hinata looked uneasy, "Tayuya was not a bad person at heart and I think she must have had a good reason for doing what she did."

Tenten merely sighed, "You are too kind for your own good. Both you and that idiot captain of ours."

"Maa maa," Kakashi chuckled, "I think a little faith in your crewmates is a good thing."

"Hey who are you guys betting on?" A strange pirate walked up to the group with a grin full of sharpened teeth. He had blue hair and was wearing a navy blue vest top and baggy blue trousers and was the same height as Kakashi.

"I'm waiting to see the odds before deciding," Kakashi replied without missing a beat.

"Hah," the pirate stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around. "The odds on Tayuya are freaking huge. No real surprise considering she is against the 'Master of Sound'." The pirate paused and looked at the scarecrow. "You look real familiar, we been on a raid together before?"

"Possibly," Kakashi shrugged. "I can't remember all the people I've travelled with. Most of them don't last long enough to warrant getting to know them."

"Hahahaha!" The sharp toothed pirate laughed heartily. "Isn't that the truth? It's almost as if…" The man's head exploded in a shower of water then slowly reformed. "Alright who's the dead fucker who did that?!" He roared charging at a group of pirates, one of which was holding a pistol and looking incredibly guilty.

"Well... That happened." Kakashi smiled as he walked towards the arena, ignoring the body parts that flew past his head. "Sounds like our little Tayuya-chan has gotten herself in trouble."

"Yeah," Tenten smirked. "I can almost imagine the look on her face when we save her."

"Oh," Kakashi eye smiled, "I thought you were going to give her a piece of your mind?"

"I would but the look on her face when she realises once again that she is useless and I am superior to her in every way is more than a good enough reason to save her." Tenten grinned.

"She is very Tsundere," Kakashi remarked to Hinata.

"Tenten has always struggled to admit when she likes people," Hinata agreed.

"Hey!" Tenten glared, "Don't side with the scarecrow. I am not Tsundere!"

"Do you love Naruto?" Hinata asked suddenly.

"What?" Tenten shook her head furiously, "Well it's not like I _like_ the idiot. I mean someone has to keep him in line or god only knows what trouble he'd get himself into. I'm only a member of his crew because you are Hinata."

"Man she must be like an epic level Tsundere at this point," Kakashi remarked.

"She took improved TsunTsun as a feat," Hinata remarked with a gentle smile. "She can go all TsunTsun without provoking an attack of opportunity."

"I swear you are getting as weird as Naruto sometimes," Tenten sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mikoto asked as she walked up to the group. She was wearing a cloak that covered her body and most of her face. "And you shouldn't be stood in the middle of the street. We are escaped prisoners we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves."

"Mikoto?" Kakashi eye smiled. "We are looking for our ship as the glorious leader commanded and to be honest _you _stand out far more than we do. I'm guessing you are heading to that arena to find Tayuya."

"That's the plan," Mikoto nodded.

"Hey, where's Naruto? Wasn't he with you?" Tenten asked.

"For someone who isn't interested in Naruto you sure noticed his absence quickly." Kakashi dodged the thrown knife.

"Now, now," Mikoto smiled softly. "Naruto is fine. He is freeing some of the other captured prisoners… although I don't know what to make of the one he freed first. She gives me a bad vibe but I'm sure that captain can handle her."

"She?" Hinata had a bad vibe. "Is she pretty?"

"She has a nice figure and wears glasses."

"Does the captain have a glasses fetish?" Hinata wondered aloud then as one all of the crew turned to face Tenten.

"What? How'd I know?" Tenten blinked.

"Well out of all of us I'd figure you'd know Naruto the best," Kakashi muttered. "I mean Hinata spends most of her time fantasising about him but when it comes to actually knowing about the real version as opposed to a version inspired by an Icha Icha book, you'd probably be our best bet."

"Icha Icha?" Mikoto scowled. "That is little more than smut. I don't understand how anyone could read such a perverted novel."

"Well…" Hinata twiddled her fingers. "It… it has an interesting story…"

"And you're not one to talk of perversion." Kakashi chuckled. "Or is the spontaneous nose bleed from Naruto calling you 'Onee-sama' completely innocent."

"That… I…" Mikoto looked away, "How'd we get to me from Tenten's denial of her obvious interest in our captain?"

"Why am I still a part of this crew?" Tenten sulked.

"Because…" Kakashi started.

"If you mention Naruto I swear I will kill you," Tenten warned.

"I was going to say because you are a good friend of Hinata's but strange how your mind immediately jumped to Naruto."

"All of my hate." Tenten growled as she walked away, followed by Hinata.

"I suppose I'd best keep them out of trouble." Kakashi smiled at Mikoto. "See you later 'Onee-sama'."

"**Don't call me that." **Mikoto glared at Kakashi, her demon stood behind her. "**Only my cute little Naru-chan and my girls can call me that. Not some old man like you." **

"Old?" Kakashi blinked stupidly as Mikoto turned away, her demon flickering away into nothingness. "Silver is my natural hair colour!" He called after her before sighing and turning to follow Hinata and Tenten. "I'm not old." He pouted childishly.

* * *

Naruto raised an eyebrow as a seemingly innocent part of the cave wall slowly sank into the floor revealing a well-lit corridor. Unlike the cave this hidden corridor was completely white and illuminated by bulbs.

"Ta dah," Karin smiled. "The entrance to Orochimaru-sama's lab."

"Is he in here?" Naruto entered the smooth corridor.

"No. He hasn't been here for a while." Karin embraced Naruto's arm. "We are all alone here."

"Besides the other rejects?" Naruto asked.

"Yes… but they aren't going anywhere," Karin whispered in Naruto's ear. "So lets get… _acquainted." _

"Er…" Naruto pulled himself free. "I really don't think this is the time nor the place. Besides I am an Uzumaki as well (If by adoption) so wouldn't it be incest?"

"…Could I call you Onii-sama?" Karin asked.

"Er…" Naruto blinked.

"I always wanted a big brother," Karin purred, "And crossing that forbidden line is so _hot." _

"…" Naruto was currently unsure how to respond. "Maybe later. First things first we find the others who could help us and then we tear Orochimaru a new whole and then we escape. After all that we'll see."

"I'm holding you to that _onii-sama." _She finished in a cutesy little sister tone before leading the way down the pure white corridor until they reached a white door. Several glowing runes appeared that Karin stroked until there was a hiss of air and the door slid open and what lay beyond them stunned Naruto.

There white theme prevailed but there were tables with bodies on them and tubes pumping them full of strange liquids. Small complex looking screens displayed charts and numbers. What was worrying was the corpses that appeared to have been here some time. None of them seemed to have died pleasantly and were all wearing lab coats.

"Welcome to the Testing Room." Karin walked over to one of the screens and began to mess around on the display. "This used to be where I worked until Orochimaru-sama changed his mind."

"This seems so… futuristic," Naruto remarked.

"Orochimaru-sama has the most advanced research institute in the world." Karin smiled wistfully. "It was amazing to carry out research here. I am pleasantly surprised everything seems to be running."

"Shame he seems to have no morals when it comes to his research," Naruto scowled at the sight of a seventeen year old boy having his still body pumped full of the strange chemicals. "It is possible to save them?"

"They are all already dead." Karin shook her head. "Orochimaru hasn't been here for a good few years I would wager. Plus everyone in here volunteered. They wanted to be part of something amazing."

"What are they being injected with?" Naruto walked up to a man no older than himself. His body was twitching periodically.

"Each one is being injected with something different." Karin remarked. "Originally they would be injected with different concoctions trying to cure the Black Death."

"The Black Death?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"It is a very rare disease in which black spots appear periodically on the host's body as if someone has burnt the skin until the entire body is black. When that happens the host dies. It is an extremely painful disease that slowly drives its host insane. While we have treatments that delay the spots indefinitely they required re administering daily and even then the disease seems to be overcoming even them. I was working on a cure to the disease when my research ship was captured by Orochimaru-sama. He asked me to help him find a cure and I accepted. I used to work in these labs side by side with Orochimaru-sama. He was very different back then." Karin remarked. "He had just left the Marines to find a cure for the Black Death."

"Does he have it?" Naruto asked.

"He didn't have to start with." Karin shook her head and lead Naruto into a heavily fortified room where a single figure was floating in a large tank. She looked like a seven year old girl, sleeping peacefully in the strange fluid. Karin walked over to a set of screens before the tanks and started touching them and looking at the data.

"Who is this?" Naruto placed a hand on the glass. The young girl had pale white skin and long silky black hair that fell past her waist. "What has that bastard done to her?"

"That is Orochimaru's daughter. She was born with the black death." Karin smiled sadly.

"Then…" Naruto's eyes widened.

"She has the body of a seven year old but is actually around sixteen." Karin remarked. "Orochimaru-sama devised this stasis tank to stop the disease and give him time to find a cure for her. We used to get volunteers willing to die to cure this disease but then the volunteers stopped when we were so close to a cure."

"What happened then?" Naruto asked.

"There was one last person willing to be infected with the disease in order to find a cure."

"Who?"

"Orochimaru-sama." Karin looked at the floor. "He willing infected himself to allow us to finish the cure."

"And what happened then?"

"The disease ate away at his mind, as it does. The treatments we have allowed us to cure him but before we could actually cure his daughter he killed all the scientists and took the only synthesised cure we had and hid it away." Karin sadly sighed. "We may have cured his body but his mind was beyond repair. He forgot about her and started his campaign of terror. We had been on this island for a few months when all of a sudden he started stealing people and experimenting on them in his new lab he built in the village."

"So he wasn't always evil?" Naruto scowled.

"No… he was originally like the father I never had." Karin looked up at Naruto. "That's why I want to save him."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Naruto asked.

"Yes Karin-chan," An oily voice asked. "How do you intend to do that?"

"Orochimaru-sama!" Karin span around to see the serpentine man smiling cruelly. Even to her keen senses it was as if he had just suddenly appeared.

"Hmm…" Orochimaru stared at the floating girl. "An interesting specimen. I wonder what experiments I can carry out on her."

"Orochimaru-sama! You can't!" Karin started before he back handed her into a wall which she hit with such force that the wall cracked and she fell to the floor motionless.

"Who are you to tell me what to do failure?" He sneered at the still girl.

"You son of a bitch!" Naruto drew the sword he had salvaged from some pirates and lunged at Orochimaru who easily parried the attack with his sword.

"My, my. You'll have to do much better than that." Orochimaru grinned as Naruto leapt back and suppressed his presence causing Orochimaru's eyes to widen. "Curious… Is this some sort of stealth fruit ability? I clearly overlooked your potential for experimentation. I can't see you…" He glanced around as Naruto crept towards Orochimaru's back and prepared to the take his head clean off with a swipe but as he prepared to lunge Orochimaru span around and slash through Naruto's sword and dealing a deep wound across his chest. "Or can I? Suppressing your presence while impressive is relatively useless against me. You can't hide your shadow or the little noises you make as you move." He looked as Naruto fell back into the wall holding his chest.

"Damn it," Naruto scowled. His healing factor seemed to be rather sluggish. "This is what I get for shopping at the flea market…" He remarked dryly looked at the perfectly sheared blade. He dropped it to the floor. "I've got to stop buying the cheap rubbish."

"The poison in your blood should see you die relatively soon." Orochimaru sheathed his sword and walked away, dragging the unconscious Karin by her legs. "Maybe I can perform a few more experiments on this one to kill some time before I watch Tayuya get brutally murdered."

"You… son of a bitch," Naruto growled as he fell to his knees. "I'll get you… for this."

"I severely doubt that," Orochimaru chuckled as he left Naruto to die.

"Damn…" Naruto growled as he felt his body start to heal itself. It would take more than a bit of poison to stop him. He stood up to chase after Orochimaru when the world around him was enveloped in white.

* * *

"Where am I?" Naruto blinked as he found himself in a marble circular room. There were eight statues in a circle surrounding a much larger statue. The statues seemed to be glowing with a faint light. He curiously wandered up to the statues."What the hell?" He muttered and checked his wound, only to find himself perfectly healed. He turned his attention to the statues and shivered. The statues were all blank and faceless, like mannequins posing before him.

"What the hell?" Naruto repeated.

"This is the Hall of the Reincarnations." A familiar voice called from behind Naruto who span around.

"Kurama-nii? Did I die?" Naruto's shoulders slumped.

"No. Your regeneration is just purging the poison for your body. The excess energy you are using to heal has resonated with one of the artefacts of a previous reincarnation. Orochimaru must have one of them." Kurama scowled. "We don't have much time. The fact a bit of my spirit was in the rifle I entrusted to you means I am able to speak to you this one last time. I need to confess a few things. First our meeting was no accident."

"I know, you told me you had be tailing that slave ship for a while." Naruto crossed his arms.

"That is true but I never told you why I was tailing that ship." Kurama closed his eyes. "The truth is I was deliberately trying to catch you… the Ninth reincarnation. But you are more than just that… you are the ninth reincarnation of the ninth reincarnation!"

"Which means what exactly?" Naruto asked.

"There is a prophecy that in times of great turmoil a series of reincarnations are born. The first eight reincarnations all do severe damage to the old order."

"Old order?" Naruto blinked.

"The world government is the current 'Old Order'," Kurama clarified. "It is the Ninth reincarnation that creates a new order and unites the world as it was your previous reincarnation that created the Marine government. Usually my order… that is the Atkatsuki Covenant, a secret order of Assassins who monitor the many prophecies and legends of these lands in order to avoid the end of all days, would have be content to allow you to eventually come into your power and start a new World Order."

"You said usually," Naruto scowled.

"As I previously said, you are not just the ninth reincarnation. You are the ninth reincarnation of the ninth reincarnation," Kurama looked away. "The prophecies say you will create a world of harmony."

"And that's a bad thing?" Naruto asked.

"These prophesies…" Kurama looked back at Naruto, "The language that we translated the prophecy from uses the same world for 'a world of perfect harmony' and 'the end of the world.'"

"Oh…" Naruto blinked, "So you weren't sure which."

"Yes…" Kurama nodded. "My order sent me to kill you before the prophecy could come true. But then I met you and I couldn't bring myself to go through with it." Kurama realised he was starting to fade away. "My time here is done. I know not what your destiny holds for you but no matter what… I love you little brother." He ruffled Naruto's hair and faded away. "There should be an artefact here that shall bestow the first power of the reincarnations on you. It will be difficult to master but a very powerful tool to have once it is mastered. Stay strong Naruto." The whole world faded to white again.

* * *

Naruto's eyes staggered forward, once more in the lab of Orochimaru.

"What… where the hell am I?" He grumbled before recognising the floating daughter of Orochimaru. "Oh… right." Naruto rubbed his chest where a jagged scar was all that remained of the wound he had.

"Well that could have gone better. So the quick and easy stealth technique is out of the window." Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Oh well. It wouldn't be fun if it was easy. I just hope Mikoto has saved Tayuya and is on the ship waiting for me… OH CRAP! I forgot to ask Kurama the name of his sister!" Naruto face palmed and kicked one of the displays causing a report to come up on the screen.

"Huh what is this?" Naruto skimmed the contents. It seemed to be a report on Orochimaru's daughter. The last two entry caused Naruto's eyes to widen.

"Well isn't that interesting." Naruto grinned.

* * *

**Profiles**

**Name:** Karin Uzumaki  
**Age:** 21 **Gender:** Female  
**Crimes: **Shipping any incestuous pairing she can think of. Be it Yaoi, Yuri or straight, Age and the genuine character of the characters not withstanding… almost like me really. Minus the incestuous Yaoi.  
**Fighting Style: **She's a scientist, she doesn't fight. She'd claim she's a lover not a fighter.  
**Guilty Pleasures: **Writing crappy fan fiction… Wait. What do you mean like me?!

* * *

Naruto's Character Sheet!

I did this for the To Love 'Ruto story and figured I might as well do one here… This shows Naruto's abilities (that he has used so far) and also gives a brief summary of what everyone is up to in the world. At least everyone who has been met.

**NARUTO UZUMAKI**

**Base Abilities **

- Strength (Good) _Naruto is fairly strong but nothing out of the ordinary_

- Intelligence (Average) _Naruto would never claim to be the smartest person. He knows enough to get by._

- Speed (Excellent) _As a result of his training with Kurama, Naruto's speed and agility are unmatched. _

- Constitution (Excellent) _Being able to regenerate means he can shrug off all but the most deadly of woundss and he has amazing stamina _

- Reflexes (Excellent) _As a result of his training with Kurama, Naruto almost seems to see the world in slightly slower speeds that everyone else. _

- Charisma (Excellent) _Naruto has a natural charisma that can turn enemies into allies via the application of a fist to the face. _

**Special Abilities**

**Reincarnated Soul – (Abilities from being a reincarnation)**

- Impossible Regeneration (Passive)

_Naruto always heals all but the most severe injuries in a matter of hours. Poisons and diseases are harder to remove and as such significantly slow this ability down. This regeneration increases to an even higher rate when Naruto is sleeping or knocked out. _

- Limitless Spirit (Passive)

_Naruto has an almost infinite amount of inner energy that he can use to power his abilities. While he will rarely run out of energy, he will physically tire as he human body can't keep up with his soul. _

- The Devils Luck (Passive)

_Naruto never loses a gamble… unless losing said gamble leads to a bigger win later on_

- The Ninth of the Ninth (Passive)

_As the Ninth reincarnation of the Ninth reincarnation, Naruto has the ability to learn the abilities of any other reincarnation by coming into contact with an artefact linked to that reincarnation_

**Kurama's Teachings**

- Absent Presence (Activated)

_Naruto can completely supress his presence to the degree that most people's brain refuse to actually see him. Doesn't erase all traces of him though as shadows and any noise he makes can be used to 'overwrite' the brains ignore response. Also people who aren't incredibly clever can see through the ability as they tend not to trust what their brains tell them. This ability also works against people who use their instincts to fight, as Naruto's lack of presence fails to trigger any instinctive response. Also seems to work against Kakashi's mimicry ability. _

- Overcharge (Activated)

_By forcing his inner energy to any part of his body, Naruto can effectively increase that body parts power. Unfortunately his poor control means while he gets a ridiculous boost to the power of the body part, it tends to cause his muscles to burst from the excess energy. While his regeneration means that he can recover. The excess energy from using Overcharge slows his regeneration down somewhat on the affected area. _

- False Step (Activated)

_An extension of the Absent Presence skill, False Step projects his presence away from himself. This can trick fighters who rely on instinct as the instinctively move to face his new position only to find that he hasn't moved and they have basically exposed their back to him. _

**Combat Skills **

- Martial Artist (Average)

_Kurama instilled a variety of combat styles into Naruto during their training. While he is not particularly skilled in the martial arts he is skilled enough to defend himself. _

- Toad Style Martial Arts (Proficient)

_While it is unknown where Naruto learn this skills from there is no doubt that they are extremely effective against Devil Fruit Users. This style uses that Natural energy of the world to attack which can counter the 'unnatural' devil fruit energies.  
_

- Twin Blade Style (Proficient)

_Naruto took to Kurama's twin blade style like a fish to water. The unpredictable slashing 'dance' of the style suits Naruto's chaotic nature. While Naruto lacks the strength to excel as a purely martial warrior, combined with Naruto's other abilities he can be a terror in close combat. _

- Gunpowder training (Expert)

_If it uses Gunpowder, Naruto can use it. Pistols, Rifles and cannons were all covered under Kurama's teachings. Naruto enjoyed using anything that made a loud bang and excelled at ranged combat, although he preferred melee as 'swords don't need to spend five minutes reloading'_

- Improvised Weaponry (Expert)

_Kurama taught Naruto that everything is a weapon, even words. Of course he didn't expect Naruto to then throw a dictionary at his crotch and cause him to roll on the floor clutching his crown jewels for a good half hour. _

**Other Skills **

- Soothing Presence

_If there is one thing that Naruto has in abundance it is Charisma. Even his enemies more often than not become his friends and he seems to have something of a way with the ladies. Just by being near him people feel relaxed and more optimistic about the future… usually. _

- Fourth Wall

_Naruto can and will refer to other realities. There is no explanation for this ability… oh wait… no. Never mind. _

**Crew**

- Tenten Tenshi (Second In Command)

Met Naruto after saving him from drowning. She was to be an elite Cadet but for political reasons was overlooked. A good friend to Hinata, she would do anything to ensure her safety. Tends to clash with Tayuya and is often accused of being a Tsundere by most of the crew. Naruto greatly and seems to be developing a personal interest as noted by the rest of the crew. She gets along well with the entire crew although tends to get annoyed when the point out her blossoming love for Naruto. As expected she gets along best with has confidence in her abilities and views her as his second in command.

- Hinata Hyuuga (Ship's Navigator)

Hinata met Naruto shortly after Tenten and was amazed to see he acted like one of the pirates out of her favourite novel series, Icha Icha Piracy (minus the ravishing of noble women but she hasn't given up hope just yet). She is of noble birth and as such has received only the most basic of combat training but is a prodigy when it comes to navigating and has a special ability allowing her to sense the living energy of often fantasises about Naruto even though the version of him in her head is based on the character out of her novels. Naruto notices but chooses not to comment. Far be it from him to ruin her fantasies. Tenten is her best friend but she gets along well with everyone, on the grounds of she looks like a kicked puppy when upset and no one on the crew can stand her looking downNaruto finds her abilities amazing but is slightly unnerved by her fantasising about him. Still he doesn't see the harm and hasn't commented on it as of yet.

- Mikoto Uchiha (Ship's Cook)

Mikoto met Naruto along with her former USS partner Shisui on the Crow. Defeated (embarrassingly) by Tayuya she was then 'captured' by Naruto, whom she decided needed an elder sister to look after him and the other girls in his likes everyone except Kakashi, who she views as a threat to her younger crewmates. She still hasn't forgiven him for hurting knows that in a fight, Mikoto would completely destroy him and is glad to have such a heavy hitter on his crew. While he doesn't get her Big Sister fantasy he has realised how to use it to his advantage. Mikoto is the one who Naruto would prefer to fight alongside him as he knows he doesn't have to worry about her.

- Kakashi Hakate (Ship's Cabin Boy)

Kakashi met Naruto when his crew stole the HMS Intrepid, where he had been snoozing in the Crow's nest. On awakening he proceeded to defeat Tenten and Tayuya before being blindsided by Naruto. He joined the crew, hoping to repay a favour to Kurama by looking after NarutoKakashi finds Tenten and Tayuya amusing when they are flustered and makes it his mission to cause them as much embarrassment as possible. While he has no grudge against Mikoto he is very much aware that she doesn't like him but he still can't resist pushing her trusts Kakashi, as he trusts all those who agree to serve under him, but he hasn't seen him in action and doesn't know his skill set seeing as his abilities wouldn't work against Naruto.

**Straw Hats **

- Monkey D Luffy

_Captain of the Straw hat pirates. Wants Naruto to join his crew and to find the one piece._

- Nami

_Navigator of the Straw hat pirates. Seems to have a soft spot for Naruto who in turn likes to get her to over react to things._

- Zoro

_Swordsman of the Straw hat pirates. Directionally challenged the swordsman has a grudge against the HMS. Has no real opinion on Naruto's crew._

- Usopp

_The sniper of the straw hat pirates. Hasn't met the crew of the Intrepid._

**Orochimaru's Fleet**

- Tayuya the Foul

_She was a temporary member of the Intrepid until she betrayed them in order to give them a better chance of surviving the encounter with Orochimaru (Yeah that was a good idea). She has to fight Dosu to the death_

- Orochimaru

_Was originally a kind man who wanted to find a cure for his daughter but was swallowed by insanity when he infected himself to finish the cure. Now he is a raving lunatic who experiments on people for shits and giggles._

- Orochimaru's daughter

_A twenty year old girl who has been in stasis for thirteen years giving her the body and mind of a seven year old girl. Is infected with the Black Death_

- Kabuto

_Orochimaru's right hand man. Finds Tayuya attractive but doesn't have any charisma when it comes to talking to… well anybody actually._

- Kimimaro

_One of Orochimaru's most loyal body guards. Due to public outcry I will not insult him. But I am thinking of some pretty nasty things to say… Oh that would be a zinger…_

- Dosu

_Tayuya's replacement as one of Orochimaru's captains. Yeah… nothing else to say here. THis doesn't bode well for his future in this story _

**The Crow **

- Sasuke Uchiha

_The captain of the Crow. He is currently hunting Naruto down as he feels the blonde's escape from his ship was a personal failing. He is desperate to please a distant father._

- Itachi Uchiha

_Once a member of the same pirate crew as Kurama, he know acts as an advisor to Sasuke. That is when he isn't making his life a misery. He is basically the Iroh to Sasuke's Zuko. _

- Shisui Uchiha

_Itachi's best friend. He joined the same pirate crew as Itachi shortly after Kurama's death and Naruto's enlisting with Mei. Tends to be quite laid back._

- Shikamaru Nara

_A prodigy amongst HMS strategists and a HMS Elite, he was tasked with capturing Naruto and returning Hinata to Neji. Currently in an alliance with Sasuke to get the Intrepid back but expects to be stabbed in the back shortly._

- Rock Lee

_A HMS elite with an abundance of youthful energy. Travels with his partner Shikamaru allowing him to make all the decisions in exchange for doing all the heavy lifting, which suits Lee just fine._

**Mei's Fleet**

- Mei Terumi

_Personally recruited Naruto onto her ship as a mascot after the death of Kurama. Was his Captain then his admiral and has a soft spot for the blonde. Was last seen retreating from the Grand Line after a catastrophic incident._

- Zabuza 'motherfucking' Momoichi

_Arguably the definition of pirate. Was last seen with Mei retreating from the Grand Line_

- Ao

_Mei's Navigator. Was last seen retreating from the Grand line_

- Asuma Sarutobi

_One of Mei's most experienced captains. Abandoned his ship with Naruto still on it in the middle of a calm belt. Has a thing for younger women._

**HMS**

- Neji Hyuuga

_Leader of a small fleet of HMS vessels. He ordered the crew of the Intrepid to reclaim his fiancé Hinata. He's a bit of a dick_

- Might Guy

_A HMS elite that was the captain of the Intrepid until Naruto's crew stole it. He is currently turning Orange Town into a 'Town of Youth'. The Marines have already received 13,329 requests for help and even 5 requests for a Buster call to 'put them out of their misery_


End file.
